A futures love will still show itself in the past
by Left hand Suzuki method
Summary: "Mirror Mirror, From Shadows, I Burn, Red like Roses..." When you love someone enough, with all your heart, the most devastating things can take you on a journey to right the wrongs of the world, whether you want to or not... OC, Team RWBY, JNPR. FreezerBurn and LadyBug
1. Chapter 1

This is just the starter, so I'm expecting the chapters to be longer than this. I hope you enjoy it all.

P.S Could someone tell me if I used irony right at the start? It would be highly appreciated. Thank you for reading!

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There stood Beacon Academy, a symbol of pure irony to the world. It had originally been built so tall as to be a way to show the world that there is still hope, but its fractured and broken figure served as a way to show that there no hope left for anyone. It had been the first target of many terrorist attacks from the White Fang. It had lain there for 2 years, no one dared to go near in fear of what the White Fang. Eventually, peopled feared these terrorists that they managed to take power from the government through fear.

As time went on, people grew tired of this rule, and decided to rebel. The first to jump to this was Blake Belladonna, who wished to make what she originally thought of the White Fang to be true. She led a group called the Red Fang. They wanted to peacefully take back control from the White Fang, but she knew that doing things completely through peace would not work, so she created a splinter group. This group, called Hotel Zulu, would work undercover to make sure that the rest of the Red Fangs operations went smoothly. Even though she did lead these two groups, Blake always put team RWBY first. Up until this point in time, the splinter cell has gotten bigger, to the point where it is not so much a splinter group as it is another group altogether, still lead by Blake.

Weiss Schnee had become the new leader of the Schnee dust company, and as soon as she entered her office, she used the money and relationships her father had made to attempt to right the wrongs that he had committed. Her first step was to free all the faunus labourers that did not want to work there. She made sure that they all had a job secured somewhere else, using the money she had to help each individual faunus to ease into a normal working life, even going so far as to fund a joint project with Blake to create a town just for the faunus. All of this helped repair the broken bonds between the faunus race and the humans, allowing the Red Fang space to grow.

Yang is now a mother to two twins, called Ember and Celica. Because Weiss is constantly at work with the company, Yang has become a stay at home mother, but when she does feel the need to go out, she calls upon her beloved sister, Ruby, to look after the kids. All four of them, Yang, Ruby and the kids love each other dearly, but as most stories try to prove, just because you love someone, doesn't mean they'll live forever.

However, this story does not focus on any of them in particular. This story will focus on a member of the group Hotel Zulu. His name is Eric Lindergren, and his story will take you back through time, to when things were slightly more peaceful.

But first…

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 **If you've be wondering what clothes Eric's been wearing, look up**

RWBY Concepts : OC - Siy

by dishwasher1910

 **and**

RWBY- Pyrrha Nikos - SPARTAN armourby dishwasher1910

 **He wears the same clothes as the concept art girl, but he also has Pyrrha's Spartan armour shoulder piece over his trench coat.**


	2. Chapter 2

As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.

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"Let me help you fight her!" Penny pleaded.

"NO!" Eric countered "I need you to check if anyone else is still alive."

"But I-" She was cut off with a look of dejection.

"Please Penny… I can't lose you as well." He attempted to convince her as he turned to the two giant steel doors ahead of him. Placing a hand on one door, he quickly turned his head back to her. "I love you Penny, with all my heart, but if you died now, I don't know what I'd do. We've come so far together, so please Penny, I beg you. Don't follow me into this room."

A fountain of tears rolled down the synthetics face.

"Please don't leave!" She cried, mopping up the tears with her sleeve.

"I promise you I'll come back for you." And with that, he pushed the door open, leaving Penny on her knees, tears casually strolling down her face. Eric's face continually reshaped itself between pain, melancholy and anguish as the synthetics cries slowly died down to whispers, before being completely silenced by the thick doors between them.

Just the brief glimpse he caught of the room instantly assured him he was in the correct room. Burning pillars of fire held up the ceiling, doubling as the lighting for the ever-expanding room, just vaguely illuminating the large throne at the back of the room. On it sat a small, vaguely illuminated person, Eric just barely making out her figure.

"Cinder!" He roared, marching quickly towards the throne. "This is it Cinder! Just me and -"

Eric was cut off by an explosion of pain across his face as dust scattered across it, choking his already overtaxed lungs and his vision. Another round fired off into his chest before he could react, flinging him onto his back and making short work of his aura. His back seared in pain as Torchwicks cane flew into, pushing part of his spine into an awkward position.

"Bring him here." Cinder demanded in her signature cool and collected voice. "You've been a bit of a naughty boy, haven't you?" He merely looked away from her, before Torchwick grabbed his hair and pulled his head up to face her.

" My oh my, what to do with you?"

Eric's eyes lit up for what he thought to be the last time.

"Hey boss! Looky what I found outside the door!" Someone shouted from behind.

"What is it Mercury? I have no time for your games." She replied.

"Is that who I think it is?" Torchwick asked, although it sounded more a rhetorical question, as he knew perfectly well who it was.

"Of course it is." Cinder stated. "Swapsies!" She shouted at Mercury, kicking Eric back down the stairs and pulling the unknown member up the stairs. Mercury grabbed Eric by his hair, pulling his head up so that he could see clearly what was happening. Cinder stood behind Penny, a look of boundless happiness and excitement on her face, while on Penny's, the complete opposite.

"You two are married now, aren't you?" She looked quickly at Roman for confirmation, who nodded sternly in agreement. "Congratulations. It's a shame about the child though. I never really liked kids."

She brought a finger to Penny's chin, before allowing it to slowly traverse down her body until it reached her hip.

"You keep your dirty hands off her, you vile piece of sh-" Eric was cut off again by a boot first slamming into the side of his face, then his ribs, breaking two of them. Cinder pulled a knife from behind her, pulling her up by her hair. She drew circles on Penny's chest with the knife, creating small tears in her trademark dress.

"Penny!" Eric cried, grabbing everyone's attention, save Cinder, who was enjoying herself too much. "Penny, just look at me! Ignore what she's doing, okay? I promise you, we will get out of this! I promised you before, and I promise you now, we will stop this, Okay?" Penny nodded with a reassuring smile, knowing what would happen next. Tears rolled down the pairs cheeks, forming small puddles on the floor. With that, Cinder brought the knife to Penny's throat, creating a small but deep line across it, spilling droplets of blood across the floor. Cinder threw Penny off the side of the throne and walked down the steps, dropping the knife when she reached the bottom.

She walked towards a corner of the room, Mercury joining her, and lastly, Roman walked behind them. Eric quickly rushed towards the dying synthetic, putting pressure on the wound as to attempt to stop the inevitable. With saying a word, Penny rose her hand, layed it on Eric's cheek, the closed her eyes for the last time. For what felt like hours, Eric just sat next to Penny, holding her hand against his cheek as his body mustered up the last few tears it could.

Turning his head towards a strange noise in the corner of the room, he noticed the knife still lying at the bottom of the stairs. Slowly, he crawled towards it, then picked himself up, wondering which one he should attempt to kill. His mind quickly rushed towards the prospect of killing Cinder, honoring his fallen love. After quickly thinking it through, he sprinted towards the trio as they entered some form of portal. he rushed after them. Everything around him warped, but they were no where in sight, not a single one of them. He looked around as his surroundings were sucked into some form of vortex beneath him. The disappearing surroundings were replaced with vaguely familiar ones. Many young people were in front of him, walking into this giant of a building that had been placed in front of him.

"My god!" Eric whispered. "No freaking way….This….This is Bea-"

* * *

"Hey you! Yeah you! Get off the freaking helipad! Well?! What are you freaking-" The attendant stopped mid sentence when he saw the mess Eric was in. He looked him up and down before giving him a scared look and running towards the main gates of the academy. Eric looked himself up and down, realising just how much of a serial killer he looked. His undershirt and jacket were soaked in blood, and all his clothing was covered in soot. His armour, originally emerald green was now a lot darker, more resembling the colour of moss, lightly shaded by blood. His black trench coat, once famous for it's intricate purple design, had now faded to a grey and dirty purple. His hands were caked in drying blood, cracking as he flexed his hands, and in his left he held the decorated knife he'd picked up, which was also covered in the blood of his loved one. He looked around at the panicking students and other attendants as armed men practically flew out of the main doors of Beacon, weapons brandished towards him.

"Drop your weapon and stand down immediately!"


	3. Chapter 3

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

* * *

Ozpin's room was immense in size. The gears at the top left the clicking noise imprinted in my head. Ozpin just sat there, sipping on his coffee, pulling a face, then pulling a flask out of his pocket and pouring some of the clear liquid into his coffee mug, before quickly hiding it away from Goodwitch again. He would continue to sip on the coffee, glancing over every so often and Goodwitch before looking back at Eric. After he'd appeared on the helipad earlier that day, covered in blood, with a knife in his hand, security had been called, and before he was arrested, Ozpin had agreed to take him into his office to talk. Two men stood outside the office doors, while another two were stood behind Eric.

He broke the near silence.

"You look like you've been here before."

"Well, it'd be more accurate to say I've been here later." Eric replied.

"That makes no sense." Goodwitch snorted, before looking shamefully at her feet and composing herself.

"Really?" Ozpin asked, the force in his calm tone grabbing Eric's attention. They stared at each other before the silence was broken again, by Eric this time.

"Zulu."

"November"

"Alpha"

"Gamma."

"Mirror Mirror,From Shadows, I Burn, Red like Roses." Ozpin slumped back in his chair. Goodwitch looked confused between the two men, her eyes hoping that someone tells her what just happened. Ozpin ran a hand through his hair, and for the first time, looked visibly distressed.

"What's your name?" He asked, hand still in his hair.

"Eric Lindergren. Sir" Eric replied.

"Did you enroll in this academy?" He asked again.

"Yes sir."

Explaining to Glynda, he said "When I first started my role as headteacher, one of the first things I did was set up multiple codes for different possible events, like the one you just heard."

He beckoned Goodwitch over and whispered something into her ear. Her face went through different emotions, from confusion, to anger, and finally sadness before she raised a hand to her mouth in an attempt to cover her audible gasp. She left the room, leaving the two men, a cup of coffee and the ticking of the gears ahead. As they waited for her return, Eric asked:

"So, how do you and Goodwitch know each other?"

"That would spoil the game." He replied sneakily.

"Oh come on! Tell me tell me tell me please!"

"Nope." He said sternly, but calmly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Goodwitch came back in with a young man at her side. Ozpin nodded at their arrival and Goodwitch quickly left again. Ozpin turned to the younger man and said

"Now what i'm about to say may be hard to believe, and may not make sense, but this man sat next to you, is in fact, you, just from the future."

"Mmkay" The younger one replied. Both men looked each other up and down before turning to Ozpin, pointing to each other and said jokingly "Damn I look good!"

"So, what now?" The older one asked, looking for guidance from Ozpin. The younger one poked him in the side, holding his hand up. As the older one went to high-five him, a blinding light enveloped them and shot them across the room, landing mere inches away from the door. As the light faded, Ozpin stood up from his desk and walked over to them. Both of them were missing, and in their place laid a young, but obviously battle-worn teen, nearing the end of his teens. He propped his head up with one arm, resting his forehead in his hand before looking around the room, scratching the side of his head.

"What the? Where?" He looked up at Ozpin. "Wha? What happened?" Eric tried to stand, leaning on the wall next to him, before trying to walk towards Ozpin, and consequently falling to the floor. "Ow ow ow ow." Eric moaned, rubbing his hurting knee. Eric crawled back to the wall and propped himself against it . "That hurt. A lot. Say Ozpin, wasn't there two of us here?"

"There was, but it seems that the contact between the two of you has fused the two of you. What do you remember?" Ozpin asked. After talking about what happened between him, Cinder and Penny, Ozpin came to a solid conclusion. "It seems that the contact between the two of you has kept the younger body, while keeping the older memories. I suggest not trying to remember events where both of you were doing different things at the same time. Not at least until you have gotten accustomed to the new body. For now, go and join the other students. Everyone will be sleeping soon. We need to prepare for tomorrow's initiation." With a nod, Eric tried to stand by himself, before propping himself back against the wall. Ozpin walked behind his desk and pulled out another cane and handed it to Eric, who, with another nod, took the cane and left the room, making his way towards the ballroom, where all the new students were staying for the night.


	4. Chapter 4 Mirror Mirror

Should I carry on writing this is third person? I keep accidentally writing in first person instead of first -_-

Hope you're all enjoying it so far!

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

* * *

"Hey." He waved. "My names Eric. You new here?"

"Yeah." The boy replied. "Names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue; ladies love it."

"I bet they do. Eric Lindergren." Both boys shook hands before looking back at the argument, and both noticed that someone else had joined in.

"Who's that?" Jaune asked.

"I think that's Bl-" Eric stopped himself before he said too much and reminded himself not to show the fact that he knows more than he should. "No idea." He concluded. "So, found any cute girls yet?" Eric asked.

"Ehh, well there's this one girl I managed to talk to."

"Go on."

"Her name's Ruby." He pointed towards the tiny redhead.

"Ruby huh. What do you think of her?"

"She's nice to talk to, but it was a bit awkward because we didn't know what to talk about."

"Seems about right. Anyone else?"

"No unfortunately, but they were talking about me a minute ago."

"Really? You've barely been here a day and your names already going around."

"I wish." Jaune retorted. "The small one called me talk, blonde and scraggly."

"Ouch. Which was that?"

"Her." Jaune pointed to Weiss.

"Stay here a sec." Eric murmured.

"Wait what are you-" Jaune was cut off as Eric started on Weiss.

"Yo, ice-queen." He placed a hand to spin her around. Weiss batted the hand off.

"Who do you think you are? Do you even know who-" Eric placed a finger on her lips.

"Ssshh." Weiss proceeded to bat his finger away.

"Listen you dolt! I am Weiss Sch-" Eric interrupted

"I know full well who you are, please shut up!" He groaned.

"Then why do you think that-"

"OH MY GOD SHUT UP!" He vexed in return. "PLEASE! BE QUIET!" Weiss stood silent for a minute, resting her hands on her hips. "Thank you. I just came over to say that I think a certain friend of mine" he pointed to Jaune, who looked at his feet and scratched his neck. "deserves an apology. He heard you call him tall, blonde and scraggly. Not cool ice-queen. While you're at it, you should probably apologies to Ruby here as well before we all fall out. Thanks, toodles." Eric walked back in the direction of Jaune, hearing Weiss rant to herself about the events that just passed.

"What did you just do?!" Jaune looked devastated. "You know who that is, don't you?" Eric walked straight past him, grabbing him by the arm and pointed ahead of him.

"Hey, another girl! Let's go Jaune!"

"But I-What!" Ignoring Jaunes protests, he pulled him towards a particularly bright looking, crimson haired lady. "What are you doing?! Get off of me…." His speech lowered to a mere whisper as he laid eyes upon the girl, taking his time to take in each bit of information about her.

"Hello there ma'am." Eric bowed. "My name is Eric, and this here is my good friend Jaune. Nice to meet you."

"Hello." She chirped in reply. "Pyrrha Nikos." She held out her hand in response, and both boys shook it, Jaune holding her hand longer than normal.

"Do you recognise her?" Eric asked.

"Mmmm….nah" Jaune replied. Something along the lines of shock took a small grip on her face, but you could tell she didn't hate him for it. After finding out who Pyrrha was, they instantly hit it off. Waving at the two, Eric left them to their conversation and surveyed the room. He found Ruby still attached to Yang, who was having an argument with Weiss.

* * *

Pm me, ask questions and all that jazz if you don't understand and I'll try and explain!


	5. Chapter 5 Tell me something

This one was a bit longer than the others. Whoopsie doodle. Ah well. As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

Multiple voices filled the air..

"..ake up!"

"Wake up god damn it!"

"Come on!" Eric bolted into an upright position, hit something with his head. He raised his hand to his nose, feeling a small amount of blood pool in it.

"Good, you're awake." Eric looked to his left to see Jaune sat next to him, still in that damned awful onesie. He looked to his right to see Ruby sat on her knees, with Yang bending over her to see him. Eric acknowledged them with a grumble, before wiping sweat off his forehead.

"What happened?" He paused for a second, wiping the bridge of his nose. "Wait, where's my coat?!" He quickly pulled the sleeping bag around him, attempting to cover his body.

"I didn't know you had tattoos." Jaune observed. "Where'd you get 'em?" He questioned. Eric let the bag slump around his lap, not trying to cover himself.

"I, erm, Weiss did them for me." Everyone looked inquisitively at the unconscious heiress at the foot of the sleeping bag. "She asleep?" Jaune slowly pointed towards her as she grumbled, lifting herself of the floor. She sat there and rubbed her head for a few minutes, everyone waiting for here to start shouting at him. After a few minutes everyone silently came to the conclusion that she had no idea she'd been knocked out, and opted to not tell her.

"Did you say Weiss did those for you?" Yang pointed towards the tattoos on his arms. "Do yous two know each other?" her fingers slowly pointing between the two.

"I have no idea who this dolt is, and don't particularly need to find out." She crossed her arms, pointing her nose towards the ceiling.

"Shit! Fucking fuck fuck!" Eric whispered, hiding his head in his hands. He let out a deep sigh, then looked back up at the confused students save Weiss, who was still staring at the ceiling. Clearing his throat to get her attention, he said "Do you guys wanna hear something strange, which you are most likely not to believe, but should anyways, because fuck it?"

"Eh fuck it, why not." Yang sat down in between Weiss and Ruby, looking like a child about to be told a bedtime story. Eric proceeded to tell them about the future he plans to stop.

"Wow." Jaune muttered. Everyone nodded in agreement, looking to the ground, slightly crestfallen. Yang was the first to look up.

"Different subject! I don't see Weiss ever tattooing someone." She pointed out, saying what everyone was thinking.

"You'd be surprised. Anyways, she only did part of it. Ruby gave me the idea after seeing Cinder's tattoos, Yang actually did the tattoos. and Weiss imbued them with dust, cos, ya know, she knows shit about dust."

"Sweet!" Yang shouted. "I do tattos!"

"Shut up!" someone shouted at her, below a pillow was launched across the room. Everyone laughed as it hit her in the face.

Eric remembered his missing clothing.

"Hey, where is my coat?" Eric asked again, looking around. Ruby pulled the trench coat out from behind her and stared at the purple swirls on the side.

"It's so cool." She muttered, holding it closely to her chest. Putting on her best puppy dog eyes, she looked at Eric. "Can I keep it?"

"Ruby!" Weiss reprimanded her. "You barely even know the boy!"

"It's fine Weiss." Eric waved her off with a hand. "I would say yes, but I don't have a spare shirt to cover….this" He pointed towards the blood stains on his shirt. Something soft, light and red flew into the side of his face. Holding it up, he unraveled the cloth to see that it was one of Ruby's pyjama shirts. "Heh. Ruby, however adorable this shirt is, I don't think it'd fit me." She looked crestfallen, instantly making him regret saying that. Jaune appeared next to him, holding a yellow shirt. He shrugged his shoulders and said

"You'd need a change of shirt anyways." Staring at the shirt for a few minutes, he took it from Jaune and started to undo his shirt, before looking up. Weiss turned a light shade of red, Yang bit her lip and Ruby looked amazed as more tattoos stared to reveal themselves.

"Ohmygodyouhavemore!" Ruby squealed, going to touch one on his chest.

"Hands off Ruby." Yang pulled her hand away.

"Oh please!" Weiss butted in, trying not to stare too much. "You're not one to talk, given the way you're looking at him."

"Says you!" She shouted, using the back of her hand to wipe drool off her mouth. Eric just put the shirt on and him and Jaune just watched the argument, before Jaune just shrugged and trudged back to his sleeping bag. After a few minutes, the girls finished their argument, and everyone went back to sleep, Ruby cuddling the new clothing she had obtained.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ozpin announced. Everyone prepared themselves for the launch. Ruby pulled on the jacket Eric had let her keep the previous night, and Jaune just babbled on, completely underprepared for the launch. Eric was the first to launch into the air, reaching ridiculous speed and height. Scanning the area where he presumed he'd land, he came to the decision that the easiest way to land would be for him to curl up and try not to hit as many trees as possible. Nearing the trees, he retained his speed, but instead decided to ignore his previous plan and stuck his feet out, sliding through miles of dirt. Raising his arms across his face, he crashed through several trees, his aura protecting from the shrapnel. He looked up to hear Jaune scream through the air, indicating everyone else had already launched. Making his way to the north of the forest, he made sure to avoid as many people as he could, so that everyone would partner up as they were meant to.

He got near the temple when he heard some voices and trees braking. He climbed up the nearest tree he could find and scanned the area, finding Yang surrounded by several Ursai, with a major in front of her. Turning to leave, he stopped when he heard a sharp yelp and several trees brake. Looking behind him, he saw that Yang and been hit and contemplated whether to help her or not. Deciding he should, he pulled a bit of slightly transparent, yellow ribbon out from a pouch attached to his battle skirt and wrapped it around his eyes, pulling it tight enough so that he could just barely see through it before jumping down, throwing himself into the fray. The two boxers instantly synced up, standing back-to-back. They both charged towards the surrounding Ursai, quickly cleaning up.

"What's with the ribbon?" She enquired, dusting off her hands.

"Trying not to make eye contact. I got the ribbon for this exact moment. It's so that I don't pair up with you."

"What's wrong with me?" She joked.

"Nothing." He replied. "I just feel that we wouldn't make good partners." He paused for a second before looking around, quickly finding what he was looking for. "I know! Quick, hide!" He pushed Yang into a nearby bush before whistling, shouting "Blake!", then darting in after her.

"What are you doing?!" Yang whispered angrily.

"Watch!" The sound of footsteps approached them, and when they got close enough, Eric pushed Yang back out the bush. He waited a minute as Yang shouted at him, then listen as they greeted each other. Certain that they had made eye contact, he slowly crawled away, then sprinted towards the temple when he was certain he was out of earshot.

Quickly nearing the temple, he stopped a few feet from it and inspected the surrounding area for anyone, in case there was someone without a partner. Glad that he was the one of the first to arrive, he walked towards the chess pieces. He looked at all the different ones before finding one that stood out. This piece stood out because it was by itself. It was just the base of a chest piece in white, with a shield stood up, covered in black. Picking the piece up, he looked around for the other piece before coming to the conclusion that there really was no second piece like it, just the normal chess pieces. Putting the piece in the pouch where the ribbon used to live, he made his way towards a nearby tree and perched himself on a high branch, keeping a look out for everyone else.

10 minutes passed before Blake and Yang appeared from the nearby tree, Eric stared closely at the pair, being remembered vividly of their future selves, and several alcohol related incidences the three had shared. The chatted for a bit, before picking up their pieces. Moving to a crouch, Eric went to great them, when a loud scream echoed across the forest. The three of them turned towards the general direction, and all thought it was a girl who screamed, Yang audibly showing this. No more than a minute later, a scream came from the sky. Looking up, he noticed that it was Ruby, arms open in an attempt to get Yang to catch her. Suddenly, she shot sideways as something heavy collide with her. Eric's eyes widened as he managed to dive out of the tree just in time to miss the flying failure of a duo. He pulled the ribbon off his head, wrapping it around his upper arm. He walked quickly towards the broken temple, greeting Yang and Blake.

"You!" Yang shouted, pointing towards Eric. "I have a bone to pick with you!"

"One sec." Eric calmly replied, stepping backwards a bit, holding his hands out.

"What are you-" She was cut off as Weiss landed in his hands with a thump. Quickly placing her on the floor, he stepped back towards Yang.

"I have a bone to-" She was cut off again as Pyrrha sprinted out from the trees, a Deathstalker hot on her heels.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked sarcastically, seeing full well she had.

"Yep." Eric replied nonchalantly.

"I got this!" Ruby shouted, sprinting towards the deathstalker.

"Ruby wait! Yang shouted. A faint 'ting' could be heard as Crescent Rose barely bounced off of the shell of the Deathstalker. "Still got this." She lied, firing a shot off before running back towards the group. The Deathstalker gave chase, and above it, a loud squawk could be heard as a Nethermore pelted the ground around her with feathers. Yang sprinted towards her, Eric in tow, before being stopped dead in her tracks by a feather, not wanting to get impaled by it. Eric carried on sprinting, one feather getting stuck in his left shoulder. Wincing at the pain, he quickly pulled it out before stopping in front of the trapped Ruby, and shouted

"STOP"


	6. Chapter 6 Tell me who's the loneliest

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.

* * *

Eric opened his eyes to see multiple things;

was still alive.

was still alive. "Thank god." He thought.

was a nice cosy little burning wall of extreme heat between the two of them and the Deathstalker, the tip of it's tail just barely piercing the shield he'd made.

"RUN!" He shouted at Ruby, who'd freed herself from the Nevermore feather. Giving her a head start, they both sprinted back towards the group of students, then turned to face the two grimm.

"How'd you do that?" Yang asked, not taking her eyes off the grimm.

"Explain later. For now, I thinks it's time we left." Everyone agreed. and everyone quickly sprinted back towards the academy, looming in the distance. Nearing the other side of the forest, they made their way into some old decrepit ruins. Thinking they'd lost the grimm, everyone stopped for a quick rest before looking for a way up the cliff. "Um, hate to be the barer of bad news guys, but we have two pissed off grimm heading our way!" Everyone turned their attention towards the oncoming grimm. The Nevermore sped ahead, taking it's position on top of the tower at the back of the ruins. Their attention was quickly caught by the Deathstalker, which burst through a bundle of trees.

"Ah god damn. Run!" Jaune shouted, everyone sprinting towards the Nevermore. It flew upwards slightly, peppering the ground around them, while little pink canisters flew towards it. On hit it square in the jaw, causing the creature to relocate. As they reached the bridge connecting the land to the tower, the Nevermore came back around, charging head first into the bridge. The group had been split, with Eric on the side without the Deathstalker. Turning around, he saw he was with Jaune, Yang, Weiss, Ruby, and someone else. Quickly making his way to the unknown girl, he stated "You're Nora."

"Yep!" She replied, saluting him comically.

"Bubbly as ever." He thought to himself. He sighe at the ridiculous plan he'd just come up with. "I need you to hit me with that hammer, so that I get over there." He pointed towards the air in front of the Deathstalker.

"Okidokie!" And with a smile, she mercilessly punted him across the gap. Landing on the side of the bridge closer to where he was, he smashed downwards, braking the bridge and flipping the rest of the group across the gap. As he fell with the bridge, he kicked it towards the Deathstalker and fell, only being caught by a glyph from Weiss. He jumped off of the glyph, landing in front of the creature.

"Eric!" Jaune and Ruby both shouted, looking for a way to get across. The Deathstalker threw its tail towards the boy, who shifted his stance so that he was facing the other students, and grabbed the end of the tail over his shoulder. Everyone stared in amazement as with a low roar, he pulled the tail, flinging the entire creature over his shoulder, bridging the gap between the two sections of bridge. He jumped towards the middle of it, breaking what little grip it had on the bridge. As it began to fall, he jumped off again, landing lightly next to Weiss and Pyrrha.

"Thank god you're on our side." Yang smirked, while Pyrrha nodded in agreement, and Jaune just looked slightly worried.

"Guys. Nevermore!" He pointed towards the animal as it swooped down, taking Yang.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, slightly relieved when she saw her sister unharmed, pumping rounds into the creature's mouth.

"Blake, Weiss, Ruby, Pyrrha!" He grabbed the girls attention. "I have an idea. Blake, wrap one side of your blade across one pillar. Pyrrha, grab the other side and wrap it around the other."

"What do you plan on doing?" Weiss asked, hand gestures emphasizing her question.

"Magic." He waved his hands in an arc, while the two girls began their task. "Ruby, I need you right in the middle of that cable. Weiss, we need a launcher glyph, pronto."

"What do you plan on doing?" Ruby asked, worried.

"You're gonna kill a Nevermore. Weiss, I need a line of booster glyphs up the middle of the cliff." She nodded, prepping the glyphs. Ruby took her position, held back by the glyph. "Right, Yang!" He called. "See if you can direct it straight for me." She nodded, beginning to punch it in the face until it turnt. "When I say so, you need to jump, okay?"

"Okay!" she shouted, the beast heading straight for him.

"3….2….1… JUMP!" Yang flew off the bottom of the avian, mere seconds before Eric punched it square in the nose, sending it reeling backwards. "Weiss now!" Ruby was launched towards the Nevermore, pulling it by the neck with her scythe. Using the booster glyphs, she sprinted up towards the cliff, reaching the top before decapitating it, it's now headless body rolling back down the cliff. "Excellent. It actually worked." Everyone jumped back down and convened around him while he dusted off his hands. "I say that's a job well done people. Now we just need to get up there. Yay." Everyone clapped as he took one end of Gambol Shroud off of Pyrrha.

"What are you doing?!" Blake exclaimed, watching as he tied it around his waist.

"I'm getting everyone up. Make sure that's tied around everyone." Once everyone was secured, they made for the cliff. Once they got there, Weiss cocked her head to the side and mockingly said "So genius, what's the plan?" Without saying a word, Eric began climbing up the cliff. After getting a few feet off the floor he heard a slight yelp from Weiss as she a

was tied up behind him, now being dragged up the cliff. After about half an hour, he reached the top. With an exasperated gasp, he pulled himself up, more crawling than walking as everyone got up. He collapsed on the floor, arms and legs aching, while his fingers were all bleeding intensely.

"You absoloute twit!" Weiss shouted. "You could have at least told be that you'd be pulling us up the cliff! Now my dress is absolutely RUINED" Eric didn't reply, he just laid there.

Pyrrha butted in. "Weiss. You're being a bit unfair."

"Yeah!" Yang joined. "He just threw a Deathstalker off a bridge, thought of a plan off the spot, helped kill a Nevermore, and dragged us and your sorry ass up that entire cliff. Give him a fucking break will you?!" Weiss' gaze dropped to her feat.

"Ladies please." Eric pulled himself off the floor, holding on to Jaune's shoulder. "Weiss does make a point." They all looked to him in shock. "I did kinda ruin her dress." Turning to Weiss, he said "Sorry 'bout that ice queen. I'll buy you a new one yeah?" Yang looked at him, slack jawed.

"You're fucking kidding me!" Yang marched towards them, spinning Eric on the shoulder. "She can't just fucking shout at you like that after all you did, especially over a fucking dress."

"Yes I know that Yang, but to be fairly honest, I should have told her for safety reason. Also, it was a pretty nice dress." Weiss blushed slightly at that last one. "Come on, let's get inside. I need some bandages, a nice bath and some fucking pain killers. My fingers kill!" He wrapped one arm around Jaune, and one around Weiss. Yang just stood there as everyone walked off, trying to figure out what just happened. "Anyways, I plan to stop her from shouting at the stupidest of things." Yang sighed, glanced at the setting sun one last time, before catching up with the rest of the group, jumping on Ruby's back, sending them both piling into the floor.

The rest of the day was filled with madness as everyone tried to find each other for the ceremony. Once they did finally find each other, the hardest to find being Nora as she wouldn't sit still, they gathered in the auditorium.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. You four collected the white knight pieces, and shall work together as Team RWBY, lead by Ruby Rose." Looks of joy spread across the girls as they all managed to get into the same team. The look on Ruby's face surpassed all, as thoughts of being a leader and what responsibility that brought ran through her mind. As they walked of Eric gave Ruby a friendly hug, congratulating them all. As every one was about to leave, Ozpin announced one more name. "Eric Lindergren." Eric walked up to the stage, a puzzled look on his face. "You retrieved the knight's shield, and shall have the title of guardian placed upon you." Several quizzical voices rose from the crowd as Glynda walked over.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?!" She whispered sternly.

"Let's find out, shall we?" He looked back at Eric. "The guardian is a time honoured tradition, and the guardian is allowed to pick one, maybe two if he or she may wish to, teams that that person wishes to protect. At this stage in time you can back out of this, or you can choose your team now. They will be placed under your care, and any injuries sustained will fall upon you and the team's leader. Do you wish to back out?" Eric stood there for a few minutes, thinking it over.

"No thank you." Eric replied courteously

"Then, which team would you wish to protect?"

"I choose….Team's RWBY and JNPR."

"Are you sure with your decision?"

"Yes."

"Two teams? That's a lot of work."

"It allows me to protect my friends, so, I'll happily go through it all."

Eric bowed and walked off the stage and out, his new friends in tow.


	7. Chapter 7 I'm the loneliest of all

**If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15**

 **If you wanna see what tattoo's Eric has, look up Renji's tattoos. He just doesn't have the ones on his but or on his forehead, but has the same ones on his lower arm as he does on his lower leg. Choose whichever colour pattern you feel is best for how you think of the character, but remember, the only colours you can choose is Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and really bright Orange.**

 **As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

* * *

"So, guardian!" Yang put emphasis on the second word. "We all share a dorm because we're part of the same team. Where you'll be?"

"Please don't call me guardian. It's just weird. Maybe guardians have their own room?"

"No actually." Everyone yelped suddenly as Ozpin made himself known to everyone. "Normally they share the room with the team they choose to protect. Because you've chosen two, you need to choose one of these." He held out two cards, both face down. Eric slowly went to grab one, only to change his mind mid way. This carried on for a full two minutes before Ozpin threw them away. "They were both blank anyways." Eric looked at him, slightly stupefied. He took a slow sip from his iconic mug, drawing out the moment. Eventually, he took the mug away from his lips and said "You'll be in Team RWBY's dorm." Without another word said, he walked off, feeling he made the right decision. Eric shouted back at him "You mean I'm stuck with four other girls?!" Ozpin simply waved him off, and Yang crashed into his side, lifting him up in a hug.

"Yay!" She shouted, voice blaring down the corridor. "We get to share our room with our knight in shining armour!"

"Oh joy!" Weiss remarked sarcastically.

"I know right!" Eric retorted, just as sarcastic, if not more. Blake dragged her scroll across the door lock, opening the door with a slight push. Everyone walked in, Yang's feet now off the floor as she stayed glued in the same position as she was before. The room was barely spacious, the four beds taking up the most space, with four sets of drawers on either side of the room. In between them being a window.. The curtains were a light crimson, with the window wide open. On either side of the door was two sets of tables, providing work spaces for the students.

"There's only four beds." Ruby pointed out.

"Well done captain obvious!" Weiss remarked, sitting down on one of the beds. Everyone gave a slightly disapproving look, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Don't worry!" Yang shouted. "Our knight in white can sleep with me!" She pulled Eric's arm towards her, causing him to lose balance and fall over.

"Please stop calling me that!" He pleaded, raising a finger in the air to emphasise his point.

"Nope." She cheerfully replied, a low moan emanating from Eric.

"First things first!" Ruby shouted, a wild grin on her face. "Sleep! We have a big day ahead of us, so we all need to get some rest!" Everyone agreed, tired from the day's mishaps. As everyone quickly chose their beds, Eric sat down at one of the desks and pulled a book out from the desk draw.

"That's not sleeping!" Ruby panicked, thinking something was wrong.

"I'm not too tired." He replied bluntly, getting into his book. "I'll sleep later."

"But it's already.." Ruby pulled out her scroll, looking for the time. "10:00! You need to sleep or you'll be exhausted!"

"I'm used to it." He got up, still reading as he dragged his hand across the wall, looking for light switch. After flicking the lights off, he walked back to the desk and sat down, putting his feet up.

"How can you read in the dark?"

"I have good eyesight." Everyone shrugged it off except for Blake, who gave him a deadly glare, thoughts running through her eyes. Instead of saying anything, she turned around, trying to sleep.

"You're not going to...try anything are you?" Yang asked, implying something was wrong.

"Excuse me?" Weiss spluttered, Blake chuckling into her pillow.

"Yang!" Ruby moaned, throwing a pillow at her.

"What?! He's a guy in a room full of beautiful girls, who'd all be asleep!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Eric mumbled as everyone settled back down.

"You didn't answer my-"

"Of course I'm not going to do anything!" He shouted sharply. "You'd all probably kill me before I did anything anyway. Plus that would be the complete opposite of my role now." With that silence enveloped the room, and before long everyone was asleep, Eric dozing off into his book.

He was woken up by a sharp noise in his ear. Panicking, he fell off his chair and quickly rolled to his feet.

"Good morning team RWBY!" The team's leader shouted cheerfully, whistle in hand. "Today we get our uniforms, and I have already devised a job that we can do as a team! Decorating!" Her and Yang threw all forms of things through the air, pleased that the day had started.

"What?" Weiss got up, rubbing her eyes.

"She looks adorable!" Eric thought, the realization of just how cute the ice queen really was dawning upon him. "She's like a little child!" Blake snapped him out of his stupor, telling Weiss that they still need to unpack, the contents of her bag dropping to her feet. "And clean up." With a huff, Weiss got up off the floor and grabbed the uniform Ruby had oh so happily provided her. Going to change, she remembered that Eric was still in the room. Turning a bright shade of red, she launched her suitcases at him until he left the room, shutting the door behind him, narrowly blocking the last bag.

"Rough first day huh?" Stood in the doorway opposite was Jaune, already in his uniform, drinking something.

"Yeah. Yeah you could say that." He replied.

"What was that about?" He asked, Eric scratching his neck.

"Dunno. I think Weiss is getting changed. Met any new hot girls?" He nudged Jaune with his elbow.

"No, but me and Pyrrha seem to be hitting it off. You need to introduce me to Weiss please!" Jaune begged, kneeling to Eric.

"Really? I mean yeah she's cute and everything, but she's a bit of a bitch."

"Please?!" He pleaded again.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Oh thank you so much!" Jaune went to hug him, only for Eric to push him back into his dorm and shut the door. He walked back to his dorm, going to grab the handle when he heard agreements and a angry Weiss. Opening the door, he casually strolled in, seeing that the girls had done some refurbishment. Granting a simple "Huh" from Eric, he overheard what they were talking about. Hiding around a corner, he carried on listening to them.

"You were a bit harsh on him." Blake said calmly, her bow twitching at the intensity of Weiss's voice.

"He's not a mind reader!" Yang cried.

"Here you go!" He looked around to see Ruby stood there, holding his uniform.

"Cheers." He took the uniform off her and started changing.

"What you doing round here?" She asked casually, avoiding the fact that he was changing.

"I was listening to them." He pointed towards the other girls, who were still arguing.

"Isn't that bad though?" She questioned, accidentally nudging him as he was pulling his trousers on. Falling sideways, he just managed to pull his trousers up so that he wasn't exposing anything save his bare chest. This time the tattoos could be seen clearly, and Ruby just fawned over them. Weiss blushed a little again, but a bit more intensely than last time, and Yang's nose exploded, propelling her to the floor. Ruby raised her hand to touch one.

"Can I?" She asked, pulling on her best puppy dog eyes. Blushing slightly himself, Eric attempted to not make eye contact while nodding slightly. Dragging her hand across his chest, her eyes widened and gasped in amazement as she traced each edge of his slightly raised skin. The door swung open and Glynda Goodwitch walked in, staring at her scroll.

"You girls need to go to class. You are already late as it is. Do not take any longer." She peered up from her scroll to look at the girls, only to instead take in the scene before her.

"Glynda Goodwitch!" Eric shouted, gently pushing the still wide eyed Ruby off of him. "I haven't seen you in ages!" He walked towards her, arms spread.

"Mr Lindergren. Tattoos are not permitted on academy grou- What are you doing?" Eric pulled her into a tight hug. "I haven't talked to you in bloody ages! How are you?!"

"Put me down right now!" She tried to keep a straight face, but it wavered slightly at the current skin contact and the boy. "P-p-please put me down." She stuttered, her cheeks rivalling that of Ruby's hair. Everyone stared at the teacher, wondering why someone so composed as her would stutter of all things. Cautiously lowering her to the floor, Eric released her from his grip and slowly backed away. She cleared her throat, composed herself, and left the room, muttering something about them getting to class. Eric pulled the rest of his uniform on, and ignoring the pleas of Yang and Ruby to take it back off, walked with Weiss and Blake to class, the sisters grumbling behind them. They walked through the many, winding corridors, out the dorms and towards the main area of the school. Finally reaching their class, the first to enter was Blake, followed closely by Weiss, then Ruby, and finally Yang.

"Mister Lindegren not with you?" Glynda asked.

"How you get here so fast?" Yang asked, blatantly ignoring the question.

"I have my ways. Where is Eric?"

"He was outside." Eric pulled his scroll out of his pocket, spent a minute untangling his headphones, before plugging them in, playing his favourite song, strangely called caffeine, and nonchalantly strolled into the class, ignoring Glynda and her nagging about his headphones. Taking a seat next to Yang, he leaned back, put his feet up and slowly drifted off into lala land. Thoughts about how he would attempt to change the future, which were then followed by thoughts of Penny and their children.

* * *

 **I was just thinking to myself, is anyone actively reading this as each chapter comes out? Or is it all passing glances? I'd love to know, so please PM if you actually are enjoying this.**


	8. Chapter 8 Red like Roses

**I'm gonna warn you now that this chapter might upset a couple of you. You all jive-ass mutherfukers anyhow, so you should be fine, but if you don't read it, I'll sum it up in the authors notes next chapter. You've been warned!**

 **As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

They lived in a ruined apartment building, not ideal for raising a kid in any way shape or form, but it was the best environment they could provided. The room he was sat in and peeling wallpaper, corners dangling off the wall, their original cream colouring faded due to dust (not the material). He was sat on a red couch, the only thing not faded in the entire room. There was a old-timey TV in the corner, but that had long since stopped working. The light above him flickered spasmodically, and the windows were covered with damp. But even in this wasted apartment, one thing stood out: the small mess of orange hair in his lap that was his wife. Her rosy cheeks and slight perky smile could tell him that even in sleep, she was thinking of something good. Her ears perked up slightly and she shifted in her sleep, burying her head into his stomach.

"Morning." She whispered gently, rubbing her eyes as propped herself on her elbow.

"Morning sweetie." He put a finger to her chin and slowly drew her in for a kiss, both members tilting their head slightly in the opposite direction to each other. "How's it feel to actually sleep instead of just turning off?"

"Tiring. I never know how long I must sleep before I feel….untired."

"Ehh, you'll get used to it."

"I hope so." She turned back around, looking at the broken TV. She went to say something when the patter of feet alerted them to someone's presence. A small bundle of joy in the form of a 9, with dark blue hair, shorts, and a grey shirt with the words "Team RWBY rules!" In block capitals across the front, and "Team JNPR are awesome!" across the back shot around the corner.

"Mum! Dad! Guess what Cat just did!"

"What she do?" The man asked, sitting forwards.

"Look out the window!" The boy shouted. He sprinted towards the broken window and pulled a stool up to it, jumping onto it. The parents walked towards the window, curious as to what their daughter had done. There she stood, at the base of a building, sat on a small mound of dead Beowolves and Ursai, topped nicely with a Nevermore at the bottom of the pile. She looked up, whistling loudly in case they hadn't noticed her.

"We should help her with that. Come on you." He ruffled the boys hair, putting an arm around his small frame, holding his wife's hand. They got to the end of the corridor, and it was the like the entire world had had it's light stolen, like the sun had been switched off. "Hello?!" He shouted, panicking quickly rising in his voice. After a few minutes, the corridor started to fill back up with light, slowly at first, but quickly as every nook and cranny was not left untouched by the light. He looked around for the missing family members, their clothes on the floor the only proof that they were there in the first place. He rushed to the nearby window, looking for the daughter. Only her clothes remained on the dead grimm. He rushed back to his apartment, now blanketed in dry blood. "No no NO! Please no no nonono!" He rushed towards his bedroom, eyes wide open in shock at the scene before him. There his family laid, each member resting against the headboard. Each member had had their throat slit, blood pouring down their naked bodies. What made him want to wretch was not that, but the fact that they had all been disembowelled, their intestines trailing across the vaguely white sheets. Sat at the edge though, a girl with long hair, violating the wife's lifeless body, her crimson dress now blending in with the ruined sheets.. Noticing his presence, she slowly turned around, her yellow eyes piercing his own. Bit's of flesh still stuck in her teeth, she slowly opened her mouth, whispering at first, escalating to a roar,

"...coming for you. We're coming for you! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!" He was glued to the spot, his body unwilling to move. paralysed by the scene laid out before him. She crawled towards him on her hands and feet. She let her hands climb up his legs, slowly wiping blood across his chest. She cupped his face in her hands, biting his lower lip playfully, before forcing her tongue into his mouth.

"NO!" He shouted, launching himself out of his chair and into the nearby wall. The entire class stared at him as he slumped to the floor. Tears rolled down his face as everyone started murmuring and pointing fingers in his general direction. He brought his knees to his chest, burying his face in them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Mr Lindgren! What are you doing now?" Glynda nagged. "Miss Xiao Long, sit down." Yang walked towards Eric, blatantly flipping Glynda the bird before crouching next to Eric.

"Hey bruiser." She lightly punched him in the arm. "What's up?"

"I-I-I had another nightmare about P-P-Penny and t-t-the kids. Cinder was there, and-" He cut himself off as he let out a new torrent of tears. Yang pulled him up before putting an arm over his shoulder.

"Let's go back to the dorm, yeah?" He slightly nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"I'm coming with." They both looked around to see Weiss had picked up her bag and Eric's, slinging it across her shoulder.

"All three of you, Sit do-" Glynda was interrupted by Weiss, who was holding the door open.

"Shut up Miss. We don't have the time or patience for this." Everyone looked blankly her, surprised by this sudden rebellious attitude. A quiet "Come on bruiser." came from Yang as the trio walked out the door and back to their dorm.

When they got there, they sat down on Eric's bed, Yang grabbing a couple of drinks from the mini-fridge at the end of his bed.

"You reckon you could talk about it?" Yang asked, handing the other two a can of thatchers. Both Eric and Yang downed half their can, while Weiss took a sip, pulled a disgusted face, and put it onto the bedside table. Eric nodded, looking at the bed sheets. He cleared his throat, mentally preparing himself.

"Like I said, I-I had another nightmare about Penny and the kids. It started out with me sat in a destroyed apartment that we'd turned into our home. I was sat on a couch, and Penny was sleeping on my lap." He told them about the son pointing out his daughter, and how they went to help her. "We got to the corridor, and it blacked out, like someone had turned off the sun." The girls nodded, not saying a word through the whole thing. "When the lights came back on, they weren't there. The only thing that proved they were there in the first place was their clothes lying on the floor. I looked out the window, and my daughter wasn't there either, just her clothes. I ran back to the apartment and almost booted the door down. There was blood everywhere." A solitary tear rolled down his eye as Weiss raised a hand to her mouth. Yang sat there, clenching and unclenching her fist. "But that wasn't it. Their bodies weren't there. I hurried to our room, door never being there in the first place, and there they were on the bed, throats slit, gut's everywhere." Yang rushed to the bathroom, releasing her recently consumed drink. Weiss looked pale, a lot more so than usual. Eric waited for Yang to return, be she just shouted "Go on. I can hear you from here." He looked at Weiss, who just looked back reassuringly, nodding in agreement.

"Cinder was there, at the edge of the bed, and she just.." He paused and raised his shaking hand in front of him. Weiss grabbed it with both hands, gently pushing it back down to the bed. "She violated Penny!" More retching could be heard from the bathroom, and Weiss looked as though she was contemplating whether to join Yang in the bathroom. Minutes passed in silence, the odd splash as Yang continued to vomit less and less.

"Is that it?" Weiss asked softly, trying not to make eye contact. he slowly shook his head, another tear rolling down his face.

"I couldn't move, and she forced herself upon me." Yang vomited a little more. "That's when I woke up." Weiss looked him straight in the eye.

"This was all a dream? this hasn't actually happened before?" She asked.

"No. It's a dream as far as I can remember." He replied.

"You're a broken man Eric." She summed up. "With a broken mind, and we need to find the right person to fix you back up." She looked at him, a new found hope in her eyes. "We're going out tomorrow, as a team. You up for that?" He nodded in agreement.


	9. Chapter 9 Fills my dreams

**This chapter contains my first attempt at smut. Think of it as a teaser. You have been warned, but please, please do tell me if you think that I'm doing a okay job at it.**

 **As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

If you've already read the previous chapter(s), I strongly advise, if not blatantly ask you reread the ones you've already read as things have changed. Some has been added, taken away, or changed. Seriously, have a look just in case. - Left Hand Suzuki Method - 5/7/15

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Eric awoke to light chatter, the voices of the girls comforting him as he snuggled into his blanket, facing the TV they'd recently mounted on the wall so that all the beds could see it. Eric was snuggled into one corner of the bed, while Ruby and Blake were sat at the at the end of the bed, the former laying on Blake's lap, and Weiss and Yang were snuggling together next to him.

"Well, isn't that nice?" He thought, trying to see what was on the TV while staying in the comfort of his blanket. "Hold the fucking phone a minute! What?!" He did a double take, staring at Weiss and Yang, Weiss was sat on Yang's lap, head in her shoulder.

"Morning bruiser." Yang murmured, brushing some of Weiss's hair away from her. She looked so peaceful. The heiress was asleep, snoring lightly as Yang held her there. The way the heiress talked lightly in her sleep made the whole scene seem more peaceful, constantly mumbling on about how much she loved the team.

"So…" Eric scratched the back of his head. "You two banged yet?" He looked directly at Yang, who turned a deep shade of crimson.

"N...no." She trailed off, her voice exceptionally quiet.

"Oh my freaking god! You girls are so awkward about this shit!" Ruby and Blake turned around, only just noticing he was awake. "Please tell me yous two are going out!" They quickly glanced at each other before looking away, both girls blushing. "Fuck this, I need a drink." He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and climbed out, not noticing the fact that he was in only his boxers. He opened the mini fridge at the end of the bed and looked up a Ruby, who was still blushing, but turned her attention towards the TV. He only noticed his lack of clothing when he felt the cold air rush against it. He pulled a can of cider out of the fridge and opened it. "Yang, why do my clothes always seem to leave my body when you're around?"

"Maybe I'm just too hot for you." She smirked, placing a finger on her lip, rubbing her thighs together. Eric just shivered and went to climb back into bed when the door shot open, an all too familiar voice emanating from whoever walked in.

"Eric Lindergren, you did not attend any of the detentions set for you today. What do you have to say for yourself?" Glynda looked up from her scroll to see Eric standing there, posing for the teacher as he carried on drinking his alcohol. She blushed heavily at the lightly toned boy in boxers before her, trying to restrain herself from taking him there and then. She turned back towards her scroll, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Alcohol is not allowed on or in the dorms. Hand it over immediately." As soon as the can touched her fingers, she wrenched it from him, quickly downing the entire can before chucking it in the bin. Everyone stared, slack jawed, aside from Weiss, who was still asleep. "Follow me Mr Lindergren." She motioned for him to follow, opening the door for him.

"Don't I need clothes?" He asked, reaching for his uniform.

"Just follow me!" She quickly grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him out the door and shutting it behind soon as the door was shut, she pushed him against the wall. Cupping his head in her hands, she allowed her scroll to drop to the floor as she leant in to kiss him. She forced her tongue into his mouth. She allowed one hand to dance across his chest, tracing over his tattoo's, while the other hand found it's way to his neck, holding the back of his head and pulling him further into the kiss. His eyes slowly drifted shut, allowing his teacher to take full command of the situation. He allowed his hand to drift across her stomach, playfully moving up and down. Their tongues explored every in inch of the others mouth, while hands found their way to more private areas. Pulling her shirt out from under her skirt, he slid his hand across her back, finding and quickly undoing her bra. Through her dress shirt, his other hand played with her breast, cupping it in his hand before teasing her nipple between two fingers. his other hand slowly pulled her skirt up to her waist, then began rubbing her inner thigh. The hand that was drifting across his chest made it's way to his boxers, rubbing him through them, before squeezing his jewels in her hand, eliciting a small gasp from Eric. Just as his had reached her most private of places, she pulled herself away, ending the moment they had. Pulling her skirt down and redoing her bra, she looked him straight in the eye, resuming the grip she had on him.

"You are not to tell anyone of this. Do you understand?" He nodded in agreement. She tightened her vice like grip. "I said, do you understand?!" She asked again.

"Y-yes ma'am." He yelped, slumping to the floor as she let go of him, cradling his new sore spot.

"Good. You may return to your dorm. And for god sakes put some clothes on!" She strutted away, swaying her hips unintentionally. He slowly got back up as a door opened. Pyrrha stepped, closing the door behind her.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and worryingly protested "You don't look too good." In fact, she'd squeezed him so hard he felt like throwing up.

"Thanks for helping me up Pyrrha. I'm just gonna go lay down." He paused for a minute before slowly opening the dorms door and walking through. He waved goodbye to her and she walked off before he closed the door.

"Hey bruiser, You're back. Are you okay?" Yang asked.

"Nope. Not at all." He shook his head, hobbling towards his bed before laying back down. "Why do you even call me bruiser?"

"Because judging by the only time I've seen you fight, I imagine that you'd be a tough guy to fight."

"Right." He stared at her suspiciously.

"What? You threw a fucking Deathstalker off a bridge by yourself!"

"Oh yeah. I did, didn't I?" He stared at the wall, remembering when he threw it off the bridge.

"Yeah exactly. Even I don't fancy the prospect of fighting you. These guys" she gestured towards the rest of the team, Weiss still asleep "are probably scared shitless."

"Unfortunately. Actually, what are you doing tomorrow? Apart from us going out as a team?"

"Nothing really, why?"

"I bet you a brand new fucking bike that I can put you on your ass."

"Fuck off can you!" She shouted, waking her sleeping princess.

"Wha? What's happening?" Weiss asked slowly, rubbing her eyes.

"Yang, it's official. Your girlfriends fucking adorable when she wakes up." Weiss gave out the smallest yawn she could possibly muster. Yang's eyes glittered at the sight, before she slung Weiss over her shoulder and got off the bed.

"What are you doing you blonde brute?!" She shouted, lightly punching Yang in the back as

"Where you going?" Blake asked.

"Somewhere private." She smirked, giving the team a thumbs up before walking out the door, ignoring the ice queens protests. Eric stood up and walked over to his clothes, starting to pull them on.

"I'm leaving for a bit. If yous two haven't either started going out, or better yet started banging, I-no, we are gonna be pissed."

"Excuse me?!" Blake shouted, startled.

"Bye!" He waved her question away, pulling on his shoulder piece before opening and closing the door.

The cool midnight wind hit him in the face, making his cheeks flush red as gradually grew colder. Cursing himself for giving Ruby his jacket, he walked off the academy grounds, rubbing his hands together, the cold metal composing his right hand just serving to make his fleshy hand even colder. He walked to the outskirts of the emerald forest, finding a lake. He started to walk towards it, before something caught his eye. He looked to the other side of the lake and saw something rather strange. He saw a girl next to a collapsible chair with an umbrella. But that's not what stood out to him. What stood out the most was her hair. He whispered to himself "Who has pink, white and friggin brown for hair colours?" He pulled his hood up and started walking towards this girl.


	10. Chapter 10 Black the beast

**As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

As he got closer to the girl, he realized just how small she was, but he couldn't for the life of him tell what she was doing, especially at this time, and this location.

"Hey! This isn't the place for a little girl! Hey!" He shouted towards her. She picked up her umbrella, using it to poke at something on a tree. "Hello?!" He stopped behind her and looked up to see she was trying to get an apple from the tree branch that was too tall for her, even with her umbrella as an extension. Eric surprised her and grabbed her attention when he reached up, plucking it from the branch before staring at it for a bit. He revelled in the fact that something so small and almost insignificant to the rest of the world could be so beautiful. He caught the girl in the corner of his eye, looking slightly annoyed. "Oh, sorry! Here you go." He slid the apple into her hand, before staring at her, particularly her hair. "She stared back, almost as intensely, snapping him out of his daze. "Hmm? Oh, sorry. It's just, why'd you colour your hair like that? It's so strange." She covered her hair defensively. "I mean, normally people have like, brown, or blonde, but not pink, white and brown." She pointed towards his bright blue hair. "Ah yeah but I've seen someone else at a school with blue hair, and he pulls it off rather well." She stared grumpily at him. "Oh don't look at me like that. Anyways! Do you know where you are?" She nodded slowly. "Then you know that this is no place for a little girl." She lightly punched him in the shoulder, an angry expression on her face. "What?! What was that for?!" He rubbed his shoulder lightly, the girl turning her back on him. Turning to walk away from her, he repeated "It's not safe for a little girl, so please, leave. You might get attacked out here. By anything." He walked back to the academy grounds, waving to her as she just looked pissed off.

"I'm older than you, you twit!" She thought angrily, dismissing his existence entirely.

When he arrived on the school grounds, he stopped for a minute and watched the sunrise flicker through the trees of the Emerald forest, painting it and the beacon a nice, dark gold, slight shades of red cropping up every so often.

"Hey bruiser." He didn't even need to turn around to realise who it was, knowing that only one person ever calls him bruiser.

"Matchstick." He replied bluntly, rubbing his eyes with his palm.

"Please don't ever call me that." He looked at her quizzically for a few moments before dismissing anything he would have said.

"Why you up so early?" He asked, noting the fact that stubble was starting to grow.

"I'm always awake this early. Watch the sunrise, then train until school starts." She shrugged lightly.

"So, how're things with you and Weiss?" He tried to think of things to talk about, realizing that they really don't talk as much as teammates should.

"They're….okay I suppose."

"Rough patch?"

"Yeah."

"I know how you feel. What's the problem?" She scratched the back of her neck for a few minutes breathing in heavily.

"I just feel that…." Eric watched as her chest raised quickly, then slowly descended. "I feel like she doesn't like me, you know?"

"Maybe she doesn't." he dead panned. Her gaze dropped to the cliff edge, her eyes turning a dull purple.

"Thanks."

"The real question, my dear Yang, is whether she loves you." He held a finger up to emphasis his point. She stared at him, eyebrows raised. "You see, you said that you don't think she likes you, but there is a difference between like and love. I like…." He spun his hand in the air as he thought of a name. "Nora." He dragged out dragged out the 'N', before continuing. "Yeah that'll do. I like Nora, but that doesn't mean I love her. I like Jaune, but I sure as shit don't love him, no offence to the poor boy. He's so unlucky. I digress. You need to find out whether Weiss loves you, not whether she likes you, because those are two completely different things."

"Yeah. Yeah thanks for that." She stood up and started towards the main doors before he stopped her.

"Yang!" He called.

"What?!" She replied, equally as loud.

"Do you wanna repay me for my wisdom?"

"How?" She asked sceptically.

"Drop me off in town."

"At this time of night?"

"Yeah. I gotta pick something up that I ordered a couple days ago."

"Sure I suppose." She still sounded sceptical, but a lot less so than before. The duo walked towards the garage, trading small talk before getting on bumblebee.

"Well, this is slightly awkward." He murmured at the prospect of where his hands should and shouldn't go.

"Oh don't be a child." She moaned, grabbing his hands and pulling them around her waist. "Make sure they stay there though, or you're walking." He nodded.

A couple of hours later, and the roar of an engine caught the attention of both teams RWBY and JNPR.

"You friggin kidding me." Yang's jaw dropped as she saw the black and purple bike stop in front of them.

A few "No way!"'s came from JNPR, while Weiss simply went with "You twit." Ruby, as the fun-loving mechanic she is, simply floated towards the bike.

"It's so cool!" Ruby ran circles around it as the figure on top merely took of his helmet. "Does it have guns on it? Does it have hidden guns? Is it like Cloud's where you have a thousand million swords hidden somewhere? Does it turn into a car? A boat?" She paused for a minute to catch her breath, everyone look at her in amazement, Eric chuckling to himself. "Does it turn into a jet?! A nuclear jet! A nuclear submarine!" She squealed again. "A nuclear rainbow unicorn!"

"No Ruby. It's just a normal bike, but I'll let you in on a secret." He motioned for her to come over and he whispered loud enough for Yang to hear "It's way better than your sisters."

"Okay that's it bruiser." Yang shouted, hopping on to bumblebee. "You. Me. First one to Vale and back wins."

"We're already in Vale you dolt." Weiss reminded her.

"The town centre!" She shouted, cheeks bright red.

"Gosh Yang!" Eric mocked, raising a hand to his mouth. "Get any angrier and your face might rival the colour of Pyrrha's hair!"

"Oh you're so dead!" With that, she sped off towards the town centre, Eric quickly following up behind her. As the duo sped past all the cars, horns honked as civilians were cut off from proceeding. Without her bike, considering how angry she looked, Eric couldn't help but notice that Yang looked exceptionally-

He was cut off as the horn of a truck ahead of him made him realize that in his daze he'd wandered off into an oncoming lane, almost killing himself. Snapping back into action, he rode back to the correct lane before catching up with Yang, barely missing a red light. When they hit the more cluttered, central part of Vale, they both had to slow down due to pedestrians, but both decided not to change their speed by much, constantly trying to best the other, until they were back up to their previous speed. They got to a straight road as a truck started rolling down the other side of it with no driver in it. Noticing that the truck was more to his side than it was to hers, Eric decided that a good plan would be cross over to Yang's side of the road, but it seemed that she had the same sort of plan. As the truck continued to pick up speed on the hill, Yang and Eric started to inch their way towards each others side, until both were side by side in the middle of the road, realising what she was doing, Eric tried to convince her to head back the way she'd came, but she ignored him, pressing on towards the oncoming truck, now hitting top speed. In the split seconds he had, he came up with a risky plan that could possibly work. Slamming his fingers on the gas, he shot ahead, catching up with Yang in no time. Appearing to her side, he moved ahead of her a bit to compensate for the fact that she as moving.

Readying himself, he took a final breath, and before wrapping himself in his aura, jumped towards Yang.


	11. Chapter 11 Decends from shadows

The sound of beeping echoed around the plain white walls the composed the sterilized room. That was the only thing to break the thick silence in the room, only accompanied by the faint breathing coming from the unconscious boy laying in the bed. Eventually, his eyes began to twitch as he slowly woke from his slumber. Sat next to him was three people, happy as can be. His wife, who he adored to no end, and the two children who he would protect to no end. Who he wished he'd protect to no end. He could feel his life teeter on the edge of the living, the beating of his heart syncing completely with the machines around him. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, painfully rubbing his eyes with what little strength he could muster. He looked around for a sign of where he was before looking back at where his family were. They were no longer there, replaced by the blank plastic chairs that were there for family visits.

"Heh. Family visits. Like anyone will visit me here of all places." He laughed silently to himself before struggling to sit up. His head hurt. His chest hurt. His everything hurt. He ran his hands over his body, assessing the damage that had been done. He had multiple sets of stitching running across his body, the main ones being the one across the back of his head, and one across his chest. Swinging his legs out from under the blanket, he held onto the IV stand for support as he stood up. He tried multiple times, each time falling back onto the bed with a painful grunt. The last time he attempted it, he managed to support himself on the IV stand. Slowly, he shuffled his way to the door, pulling the stand with him. He pushed open the door and peeked around before confirming that no one would disturb him. He wandered down the corridors for a while before making his way back to his room. As he went past one room, he heard something strange. A piano. "What the?" He pushed open the door to see a piano at the corner of the room. Sat at the piano was Weiss, singing a song to her beloved in the bed next to her.

"Mirror mirror, what's behind you? Save me from the things I see. I can keep it from the world, why won't you let me hide from me? Mirror mirror, tell me something- who's the loneliest of all?

I'm the loneliest of all." She finished, the last sentence allowing her voice to fade as she played the last keys. She turned towards Yang, picking up her hand. Eric announced his presence.

"Mirror Mirror."

"Hmm? What?" She looked shocked to see Eric standing in the doorway. She didn't even attempt to reclaim her ice-queen posture. Instead she just sat there, her gaze returning to Yang. Eric's eyes didn't leave her either.

"You should call that song Mirror Mirror." She agreed with a slight grunt, stroking the hand she held. He looked around for a clock and found one shortly.

"Midnight." he muttered to himself. "I didn't even save her."

"That's not true."

"Hmm?"

"One of the guys at the scene said that the truck rolled right over the pair of you, right over your chest. The doctors said that you both should've been crushed, but obviously you weren't. Thankfully, because of you I'm guessing, she took much less damage than you did."

"Then why am I awake but she isn't?"

"You obviously have a stronger aura than her." Weiss sighed as the grip on her hand tightened slightly.

"Yeah right." He snorted, going to walk out the door. "I'm leaving for tonight. If she wakes up before I visit again, give me a ring yeah?" She nodded, and he shuffled back out the door and to his room, where he redressed himself, hid his face and walked out of the ward. He paused for a second as one of the nurses stood there and stared at him for a few minutes, before dismissing him as a visitor, and with that, he strolled out of the hospital and to the nearest club he could find. On the way there, he forged himself a fake ID so that he'd be served, and joined the line of people waiting to get in.

After roughly 10 minutes of waiting, the security guard finally looked at him for a few minutes. Looking him up and down, he nodded and signalled for him to to go in. He made his way to the bar, basically swimming through all the people who were on the dance floor. One girl tried to drag him towards her, but he just shrugged her off without paying much attention to her. He sat down on an empty bar stool, the volume of the music making him want to tear his eardrums out.

"What's your poison?" He looked up to see a tall man polishing a glass. He was in a white dress shirt, black dress trousers and a waistcoat, also black. He topped it all off with a red tie and some simple, carefully shaven stubble.

"Something really strong. Vodka, that'll do." His eyes grazed over the man slumped into one of his barstools.

"He barely looks old enough to drink." Junior thought to himself. still cleaning the already sparkling glass. "Lemme see some ID." He demanded to the mess in front of him. He looked seriously beaten. His eyes were slightly diluted, his skin pale. His shirt had blood covering it and his trench coat was ruffled beyond belief."

"Yo!" Eric shouted, tapping the bar table hard. "Drink! Come on!"

"Lemme see some ID!" He repeated, putting the glass down. People stared over their shoulders and some murmured before the clicking of heels took Juniors attention away from Eric.

"Is there a problem?" A female voice asked from beside him.

"Yeah. This ass isn't showing me any ID but he wants a drink."

"You heard the boss." A voice appeared from his left, similar to the other female voice. "Show us some ID and you can have a drink. Simple." Eric sat there in silence, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists. Junior slammed an empty glass next to him.

"Do something with him girls."

"Whatever. Come on Miltia, let's throw him out." The person on his left grabbed his arm, and when he tried to squirm out of it, the other brought him into a headlock, pulling a claw close to his face. He looked around to see that the crowd was splitting as the girls walked ahead, dragging him along.

"Wait." They paused in the middle of the dance floor. "Let's do something else Miltia." She beckoned for her to follow, and still holding Eric in a headlock, she dragged him towards a door labelled 'VIP', then through another door labelled 'Security'. Miltia pushed him into a chair then sat opposite him, the other girl sitting next to her. Finally getting a good look at them, he noticed that they were both twins. The main difference between the two, however, was their clothes. The one called Miltia was dressed in red, her dress seemingly made of...newspaper articles.

"Newspaper?" Eric thought to himself, pulling a face at the dress. "Surely you can't make a dress out of newspaper." His gaze drifted to her face. Her pale skin was made more noticeable by her heavy use of red make-up. She blushed lightly when she noticed she was staring at him, the red in her cheeks barely being seen over her make-up. He looked towards the second girl. She was dressed similarly to her sister, but her dress was white instead. Her face was near identical to her sisters, but she wore blue make-up instead, in just as much or a higher quantity.

"So, you just going to stare at us or are you going to say something?" The unknown girl asked, smirking at him.

"Yeah actually." He turned back to Miltia. "This might sound a bit weird, but is your dress made of newspaper?" She looked taken aback, before quickly nodding. "That's so cool." He leaned forward, both their eyes lighting up. "How'd you do that?"

"Well I-" She was cut off by her sister, clicking towards him.

"Hey new boy. We're here for your ID, not to start a newspaper club. Cough up." Sighing, he pulled out his scroll and showed her his forged ID. "It's fake. Ah screw it, Junior's too stupid to know the difference. Go on, you can bugger off now."

"I wanna stay here with you two now. You've interested me."

"Really now? How have we done that?"

"Well, for one." He pointed towards Miltia's dress. "Her dress. She didn't tell me how she did that. Another thing is your weapons." The girls glanced towards their respective weapons, before looking back at him. "Maybe we could talk over a couple of drinks?" Both eyed him for a minute, before the blue girl replied.

"Maybe we can." She beckoned for him to follow, and all three of them walked down the corridor, the opposite way they'd come before, towards a pair of big pair of red and blue doors. The doors themselves were quite strange, but in a way, really cool. Each door had the respective girls colour, but had some form of swirling detail going across it, in the opposite doors colour. Past the doors was a set of long winding stairs, each split in half with the colour blue or red. Each grabbing an arm, the twins pushed open the double doors and pulled him through.


	12. Chapter 12 Yellow Beauty!

**Sorry that this one jumps around a bit. I just thought all you guys might want to see how everyone is coping with what's happening. This one's a bit shorter than the others due to the nature of it, but this length shouldn't b** **As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

Weiss sat in the blank, cold room that her bed-ridden lover resided in. She watched intensely for any movement from the yellow head, eyes always drifting back to the slow rising and descending of her chest. Every so often a slight grunt would emanate from her, but she wouldn't move. Weiss refused the pleas of her friends and the advice the doctors had given her to get some rest, wanting instead to be by Yang's side in case she woke up. Even Glynda, who everyone had thought to not care as much as the rest appeared one day to ask Weiss to return to school. Eventually, she was graced by a visit from Ozpin, who she still turnt down, refusing to leave the room.

"You're my little matchstick. Come on Yang, you can do this." She rubbed her hand lightly, and before long, found herself falling asleep in the same chair she'd been in all day.

Ruby and Blake returned to the academy together, not too long after they were told that Eric and Yang would be alright. They'd returned to class as normal, but had professor Oobleck as their teacher because Glynda left to talk to Weiss. Blake looked at her girlfriend and couldn't help but notice that the only way the redhead was stopping herself from crying was by tearing up the classrooms supply of paper. Eventually, her feet were covered in torn paper, as well as the desk she was sat at. Her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks red, with little streak marks where she'd previously cried, her no longer being able to. Blake didn't look much better herself. Her normally glowing eyes had faded to a dull yellow, and her cheeks were a bright red as well.

"Umm, are you guys alright?" A voice appeared from their side. Ruby didn't turn, instead tearing up her paper while staring at the wall in front of her. Blake looked to her right to see Jaune and Pyrrha sat in the seats normally occupied by Yang and Eric.

"Y-yeah." She rubbed her sore eyes. "We're fine."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking." Pyrrha asked.

"Erm….Yang and Eric are in hospital." At that moment Blake's scroll hummed a small tune. Not caring for Oobleck, she pulled it out to find a text from Eric saying that he's up and about. "Scratch that. Eric's awake."

"Where's he now?"

"Lemme ask him." She quickly tapped something into her scroll and a few minutes later he replied simply with "Junior's club." She laughed a little, then showed the couple next to her, one laughing as well, while the other looked grumpy.

"Why he didn't ask if I want to go, I'll never know, will I?" Jaune sank into his chair, arms across his chest. Pyrrha and Blake simply laughed at him, while Ruby was in her own little world.

 **What if she doesn't survive?** A voice rang in the scythe wielders head.

 _She'll survive_. Something else replied

 **Are you sure about that?**

 _Of course I am. It's Yang for crying out loud. She can survive anything._

 **But she did get hit pretty badly.**

 _She'll survive._

 **Don't place your hopes too high**.

 _Yang won't die!_

 **People do die. Remember your mother. She died.**

 _Don't you dare involve her in this!_

 **So did your dad. Yang's dad. There seem's to be a slight pattern of family members dying here**. Tears rolled down Ruby's face.

 **She will die. I can promise you that.**

"No!" She cried, loud enough to disturb the entire class. She bolted out of seat and out the classroom, a few people calling her name.

 **I can't help but notice that you haven't even thought for the safety of Eric.**

 _I don't need to! Blake said he's okay!_

 **Yes, true. She did say that. What if she was trying to make you feel better? She is your lover after all. Oh, maybe she'll die-**

 _Shut up! Don't you dare say that!_ Ruby snapped out of her inner conflict to find her fist through a wall, and just next to her, in a small puddle of her own tears, was her girlfriend, inches away from her fist. But that isn't what scared Ruby the most. What scared her the most was the fact that Blake was shivering, and the pose she had made it seem as though she was flinching away from Ruby. She looked around to see that they were only outside the classroom, and the members of JNPR were poking their heads out the door, all eyes wide with shock, some with their hands over their mouth. She looked back towards Blake, her eyes bloodshot, cheeks streaky. She took a closer look at her before it struck her. Her cheeks were bruised, her lip cut and her eye swollen. Ruby pulled herself away in fear, holding her hands against her mouth, trying to stop her cries from echoing down the hallway. Blake stared at her, gently wiping her own cheeks with her hand. Pyrrha rushed towards Blake and attempted to help her up, only for Blake to wave her away. Blake shouted her name as Ruby sprinted down the corridor, leaving nothing but petals in her wake.

Weiss woke up as her scroll beeped in her pocket. Groaning, she pulled it out and flicked it open.

"A message from Pyrrha? Huh." She opened the message, squinting her eyes at the intensity of the light emanating from it. After waiting a few minutes for her eyes to adjust. she read the message in mere minutes. "My god Yang, we have a lot to tell you."


	13. Chapter 13 Burns Gold

**As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

Eric awoke the next day to find that he was somewhere that he didn't recognise. For one, it sure as hell wasn't the hospital, and it definitely wasn't his dorm room. As he tried to move, he realized that he couldn't, because something was laying on him. He opened his eyes slightly to see dim, orange sunlight trying to creep through some very red curtains, only managing to shine through a small gap at the bottom. On the opposite side of the room to him was what looked like a bar, with an assortment of drinks lined up perfectly on the wall, and a few messily strewn across the bar table. In between the bed and the bar was a crimson couch, covered in what he could guess to only be his clothes, as well as whoever he was with. Attempting to rub his eyes, he tried to recall what had happened the night before. His mind filled only with pictures of drinks, two naked girls, more drinks, body shots, sex, and a bed.

"Go me." he muttered sarcastically. He looked to his left to see a young woman lying next to him. Her face had streaks of red running down it, but it didn't look as though she had been crying, but more like smudged make-up. What wasn't covered by make-up however, seemed extremely pale. Her hair was slightly ruffled, but still kept it's original form.

"Shit son. You scored." He looked to his right and noticed that there was another girl there who looked almost exactly like the other one.

"The hell?" He quickly looked back over to the first girl, then back to the second girl. "Twins? Wow. You scored really well." He attempted to get up again, only to be stopped as the first girl moved herself so that she was laying on him. "Oh come on. I'm probably meant to be at the friggin hospital." Her eyes fluttered slightly, then her head moved so that her shin was resting on his chest, her eyes gazing at his.

"Morning." He waved with the hand she'd been laying on, the feeling now returning to it. She stared at him for a few minutes before peering under the covers, smirking slightly, then laying back down on his chest. As she laid down the other girl began to wake, her arms moving before anything else.

"Oh good god! Please do not move your hand, you will crush me!" She slowly opened her eyes, trying to comprehend what this random man in her bed was saying. Eventually, she understood what he said and put on a devilish grin. Slowly, she took ahold of his manhood and started to grip tightly on it. "Why?! What did I do?!" Her grin widened, and she relished in the fearful look he had on his face before getting out of the bed. She stood there for a few minutes, stretching out the kinks in her bones. A plethora of clicks and cracks racked her body as she bent bones in ways that they weren't intended to. While she was doing this, he took the time to closely examine her naked body. A few scars ran across her pale skin, but apart from them, her body was perfect. Her small, perky breasts stood out against her otherwise flat front, and her small, but toned ass stood out well enough.

"Morning sis." Eric looked to see that the red girl had woken up as well, and had also proceeded to do some morning stretches. Slowly sitting up, Eric rolled his shoulders from where the girls had been sleeping on him before yawning and getting out of bed.

"Ooh I can see why we took him. You seen him sis? He's hung." The blue twin applauded.

"I remember perfectly well Melanie, I really do." Eric looked down to see he was completely naked. He went to cover up when he realised they were already dressed.

"leave whenever." Melanie stated. "We have a job to get to, so whatever." With that, both girls left him in their room. Looking around, Eric quickly found his clothes and proceeded to dress himself. He pulled out his scroll and saw that he had a message from both Pyrrha and Weiss. He looked at Weiss's message first, a smile breaking onto his face as he read that Yang had woken, but was still bed ridden. He read Pyrrha's message, and decided that he needed to head for Beacon instead of returning to the hospital. He took a bottle of what he assumed to be alcohol, took a quick swig and grimaced at the burning sensation at the back of his throat. He looked at the bottle, which read 'Tequila'.

"Great." Putting the bottle back down, he began retracing the steps he took, waving goodbye to the girls as he walked out the club's doors. He squinted as the dim sunlight blinded him, covering his eye's with a hand. He looked at his scroll and found the time. "Man, 11:45? I'm so dead. No, wait, I'm still meant to be in hospital. I'm not dead!" He shouted into the street.

"You will be in a minute if you don't shut the fuck up." A bottle flew out of a nearby alleyway. Dodging it, he began to make his way towards the academy, reminding himself to buy himself a new bike when he got the chance.

After an hours walk, he found himself just outside the academy grounds. For no particular reason, he started to walk towards the academy garage.

"You know they're both broke. Why are you looking?" He asked himself. He carried on, crouching under the partially opened gate into the garage. When he looked inside, he couldn't believe his eyes. There he found his bike, fully restored. on top of the bike was a note saying "You owe us. & ."

"Oh thank you so much." Eric nearly ended up praying to the note that his bike was restored when he turned it over. It said "We are not particular of your blonde friend. However, we did have the parts of her bike brought here." He looked on the other side of the bike to see that there was a small trailer of parts that made up Bumblebee. "Alright then Eric!" He thought to himself. "New goal. Have her bike fixed before she gets home." With that he quickly pulled out his scroll and messaged Weiss, asking her how long until Yang would be out of hospital.

"3 days." She replied. He quickly gave his bike an affectionate hug before leaving the garage and making his way to the main doors of the academy. As he entered, the wind was knocked out of him as someone dashed into his side. Shooting across the floor from the impact, he rolled multiple times before coming to a halt. Clutching his barely healed ribs, he looked up to see Ruby, teary-eyed.

"Ruby, I'm-" He was cut off as she sprinted out the doors, covering him with petals. He got up, dusting himself off before wondering what exactly Ruby had done. He started walking towards the dorms, hoping that Blake would be there so they could talk. As he made his way there, he ran into Jaune and Pyrrha, who, after a minute of awkward silence, began to speak.

"Hey." Jaune murmured, still trying to figure out what happened.

"Hi, I suppose." Eric replied. "Do ,er- do you guys know what just happened with Ruby?"

"Did you not see?" Pyrrha asked, her gaze constantly glued to the floor.

"No, I just got released from hospital."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you've been stuck in there. Well done." Jaune added.

"Thanks."

"What's it like?" He said awkwardly, trying to make small talk.

"Absolute balls. The beds are stiff and uncomfortable, and the food taste like ass. Really bad ass."

"So, like, the opposite of Pyrrha's?" He grinned, seemingly brimming with sudden confidence. Pyrrha turned a shade darker than her own hair, making it difficult to tell where she ended and her hair started.

"Yeah. Imagine something the complete opposite of that, then imagine trying to eat it."

"I couldn't do that to Pyrrha! Her ass is just so...perf-"

"Can we please stop talking about my behind?!" She shouted, slapping both boys across the head, before instantly apologising. After reassuring her that they were both okay, they apologised to her and went their separate ways. When he got to his dorm, he went to knock on the door when he heard sobbing. Not wanting to believe that Blake was crying, he slowly opened the door, trying to make as little noise as possible while doing it. The door closed behind him with an almost inaudible click, and what he saw was beautiful and shocking at the same time.


	14. Chapter 14 From shadows

**As always, review, PM me and all that jazz.**

The entire room was dark, only illuminated by the moonlight shining through the open curtains. In front of the window stood a girl, dressed in only her trousers. Her hands were draped across her chest, and she was staring at her arm. On the top of her head, where her bow would normally be, was a pair of cat ears. They twitched slightly as she looked herself up and down. Slowly, Eric crept towards her until he was mere inches away. She slowly turned around, her eyes boring into his.

"Have you ever looked at your eyes properly?" She asked, seemingly unaware that she was half naked.

"No." He replied quietly.

"They glow." She continued. "You're not human, are you?"

"What makes you think that?" He asked.

"Your eyes glow and you're extremely quite when you walk. Not to mention the fact that your hair twitches a lot." After he stood there thinking about it for a few minutes, he noticed that his hair did in fact twitch quite a lot.

"I just thought I was born different." He stated, stepping closer. She fliched slightly, stepping away from him.

"You're a faunus, like me." They stood in silence before she turned back towards the window, the moonlight illuminating her body once more. He looked at her body, noticing scars that ran deep across it.

"Blake, who did this? Was it Ru-"

"No!" She panicked. "It wasn't her."

"Blake. If it was you need to tell me!"

"It wasn't her. It was someone else."

"Anyone I know?"

"I don't think so."

"Do you want to tell me?"

"You'll be the first person I told." She replied, arms crossing her chest once more.

"Is that bad?" He asked.

"No." She continued. "I don't think it is. You'll keep a secret, right?"

"Yeah, of course." He reassured her, stepping closer to her. This time, she didn't flinch backwards, but instead gave him a sort of inviting look.

"Before I joined Beacon, I was part of a group called the White Fang. Because of their military-esque training, I managed to join Beacon, but that's not the point. While I was with the White Fang, I had a personal mentor called Adam. He was...rough at times, but he'd get the job done, and he was an excellent trainer, one of the best I know. But, everyone has some sort of dark side. After almost every training session, Adam would force himself on his students, if that's what you want to call them. Eventually, my father found out about this first hand when he walked in on Adam attacking me, but he didn't stop Adam. Instead, he joined in, and from there on, Adam and my father became good friends through what they'd do to the students. It got to the point where we had had enough, and decided to try and stop the pair, but we failed...miserably" Tears slowly made their way down the faunus's face. "Lot's of the students were killed, and they covered it up by saying they were attacked by grimm. They said that they'd let their favourite one's off with a warning." She gestured towards her scarred body.

"Blake I'm so sorry. If I'd know I wouldn't have asked about it."

"It's fine." She wiped tears off her cheek with the back of her hand. "You didn't know, but now you do."

"I'm guessing you'd want to keep this a secret?" She nodded lightly.

"I was only going to tell Ruby when she found out herself." He reached towards her slowly, but she recoiled backwards slightly. He stood still in that position for a few minutes before she returned to her normal posture. Gently, he rested his hand on her shoulder and started tracing a scar that ran down her arm.

"You do realise that you can have these removed."

"It'd raise too many questions."

"I'll do it." They stared at eachother for a few minutes before he removed his hand from her arm. "Not yet, but I'll find a way. I'll make it work."

"Your aura doesn't work like that though."

"I'll make it work like that." He promised, bringing both hands together. "At least if you let me try to." She flinched again, but didn't move away from him. His hands began to glow a dim shade of purple, before quickly brightening up. He moved his hands towards her lower arm and started to imagine the wound healing up completely. Sweat formed around his forehead and before long, the scar disappeared.

"You actually did i-" She was cut off as Eric fell into her, knocked unconscious from the excessive use of his aura. "Thanks Eric." She whispered, scratching the base of his hidden ears.

Eric woke to the sound of conversation and squealing girls He opened an eye to see a huge bundle of golden hair flowing in front of him, some laying across his face, tickling his nose.

"Morning you!" Weiss shouted, pointing a finger towards him. "It's about time you woke up! What are you even doing here?! You were meant to be back at the hospital hours ago! The doctors went ballistic!" Ignoring her, he poked Yang in the side, causing her to turn sharply.

"Hey you." He calmly waved, still ignoring the now fuming Weiss. "How you feeling?"

"I'm...okay, I suppose. I've felt better. But then again, I've never been run over by a truck, so, whatever. What about you?"

"More or less the same, but I think I fell and broke a rib. I dunno. Before I got to the dorm, someone ran into me and-" He stopped himself, wondering if he should carry on or not.

"Don't worry." Blake interjected. "I told them about Ruby."

"And the other thing?" A look of panic ran across Blake's face as she went to stop him, but she was too late.

"What thing?" Yang and Weiss asked in union.

"N-nothing!" Eric stuttered, being hit by Blake.

"Tell me." Yang commanded, her eyes flickering between lilac and redish orange.

"Um. Well, basically, Blake….phoned me earlier and we were gonna throw you a welcome home party. We was gonna invite JNPR as well, but we didn't tell them in case they said anything. Then I fell asleep and now this, I suppose. Sorry bout that Yang." Her eyes returned to their normal colour as she calmed down. Both the faunus released a deep breath of relief as they realised she accepted their lie.

"Ah it's fine." Yang stated, jumping up and punching Eric in the shoulder. "You guys didn't have to. It would've just tired me out actually. Is anyone else tired?" Weiss was the only raise her hand, yawning at the same time.

"Blake." Eric called.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"We should give these two some space. Maybe the whole room." As if on cue, both girls blushed deeply, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Why? What are they going to- Oh! Oh I see. Yeah let's go." Eric and Blake left the dorm, flicking off the light as they left, leaving Yang and Weiss sat on a bed together.


	15. Chapter 15 We'll descend

The normally inviting corridors of Beacon looked more like the corridors of a destroyed apartment building. Light crept out from under the doors of a few dorms that still had their lights on, but apart from them, only the moonlight from the window illuminated the corridor.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

"I'm going to head down to the garage, take a look at the bikes."

"I thought they were destroyed."

"They were. A...friend of mine had my one rebuilt, but they aren't particularly fond of Yang, so they just had the parts brought here."

"Won't it all be bent out of shape though?"

"No, surprisingly. It's like she made it out of lego. All the pieces are there, not bent or anything, but they just aren't together, so I thought I'd go fix it for her. What are you going to do?" He asked.

"I think I'll go look for Ruby. She hasn't been here for a day, so something's up."

"Alright, but don't stay out too late. Can't have something happening to you now can I?" She simply waved him off, and they split up, each going their separate ways. Eventually, Eric found his way towards the garage with nothing but a bruised shin from where he tripped over a stray chair. As he sat down, he pulled all the parts together and started to repair the bike.

Ruby lashed out angrily at the the grimm she ran into while fleeing Beacon. Finishing off the last of them quickly, she made her way towards the town centre, hoping her sister was still alive. Her scroll vibrated in her pocket, reading Blake when she looked at it. Ignoring it, she stuffed back into her pocket and continued towards the hospital. Her phone had rung multiple times from Blake and Eric, but she had ignored them all, focus entirely on using her semblance to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. She dodged past the odd car or person, shooting down the winding streets that comprised the city, leaving nothing but petals in her wake. She slammed her heels into the ground, barely stopping herself from slamming into the main doors of the hospital. She quickly rushed through the doors, thanking the gods that no one was at the main desk. She ran down multiple corridors, narrowly avoiding a few people on the night shift. When she finally got to Yang's room, she stopped and mentally prepared herself for what she might see. Slowly, she pressed her hand to the door and opened it, thoroughly shocked at what she saw.

The next morning Eric strolled into class, his uniform, hands and face slick with grease and oil.

"Mr Lindergren. I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence." Glynda observed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"You should feel happy about it." He replied bluntly, falling into his seat next to Yang.

"Where have you been? You've missed countless days."

"Oh don't stretch the truth, I've missed two or three days at most." He let his head fall to the desk.

"Jesus man." Yang poked him in the shoulder. "You look dead. Where have you been all night?"

"I'll show you after this."

"Mr Lindergren!" Glynda's riding crop smashed down on his hand, leaving a swollen red mark on his hand. "You have had no authorised leave, so where have you been?!" Her head moved closer to his, while he refused to look at her.

"I've been with her." He pointed a thumb towards Yang, who was deep in conversation. Finally, he looked up towards her, and instantly, their eyes met. "You wanna know something?"

"What?" Her voice wavered at the odd calmness in his. He slowly stood, grabbing everyone's attention. His hand glued to the table, he slowly raised the other to her cheek before whispering "You look just as beautiful several years in the future as you do now. You don't age one bit." Her cheeks flushed a dark shade of red before she slapped his hand away. As she walked back to her desk ,the classroom's doors swung open and three people entered. On the far left of the trio was a pale, young looking man with grey slicked back hair and a douchy smile, wearing the uniform from a different academy to theirs. On the far right was a young, tanned girl with bright green hair, wearing the same uniform as the boy. But in the middle was someone he remembered far too well. A young, fairly proportioned lady with jet black hair running down one side of her body, also in the uniform the other two were wearing.

Eric quickly turned his chair so he was facing away from them, trying his best not to focus on the trio, but he could feel their eyes bore into the back of his skull. After a few minutes of pure silence, he rushed out of his seat, forcefully pushing them out of his way as he left the classroom. In total, he'd only been in there for 5 minutes before he left. He made his way towards Ozpin's office, giving him enough time to calm down before he talked to the all-knowing man. He knocked on the giant doors, pushing them open at the same time.

The gears in the room clicked rhythmically, making the room sound more like it was alive than just a normal room. The whole room was blank except from the wooden desk sat in the middle of it, the calm grey haired man with his normal trademark mug sat on the desk beside him.

"Mr Lindergren." He observed. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Eric pulled up the chair opposite him and sat there for a few minutes in silence, only the clicking of the gears above the two breaking the silence between them.

"They're here." Eric dead panned.

"Hmmm. Who exactly?"

"Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. It's going to start soon. We all need to prepare."

"Indeed. You are on about this attack, aren't you?" Eric nodded, staring at the mug on the table. "Well then. How do you suggest we prepare?"

"You give it to them straight. You tell the students what'll happen, and we work with what happens."

"Won't they all know that we know if we do that?"

"Possibly, but everytime I've gone to this school, never had I thought of telling you, because of what Cinder might do. Now, I feel that maybe I should, to see what'll happen. Even if we fail this time, I can use what I learn to stop them next time."

"I see. Well then, I suppose it's time for a assembly, wouldn't you say?"

"Not yet." Eric replied. "The Vytal festival is coming up. Let that pass before you tell everyone. We could do with the spirit raiser before battle."

"I guess we should start preparing for the festival. Do you have any ideas for what we could do then?"

"We hold the tournament at the same time!" Eric's eyes brightened. "That'll bring in people from everywhere."

"Hold the festival and the tournament at the same time? That'll be extremely expensive."

"Yes, true."

"On top of that, the festival isn't long enough for both things to be going on at the same time."

"Make the tournament part of the festival. Make the festival longer, that'll work."

"Don't forget the school dance is coming up soon as well."

"Oh yeah. You need planners for that as well."

"CFVY have that covered."

"They won't be able to do it. They have a mission they need to attend to. I suggest having Weiss and Yang do it instead."

"Why those two? Surely many of their choices would clash, giving their opposite personalities.

"That's the good thing. There'll be a mix of Yang's carefree-ness, and Weiss's thought out charm. It'll make the dance perfect, because together those two spirits can make something great." Ozpin sat in silence for a few minutes, the gears in his head turning in rhythm with the one's above him.

"I suppose. I'll let you tell them." With a curt nod, Eric went to leave before Ozpin stopped him."Why are you out of your lesson?"

"To tell you about Cinder of course." Ozpin acknowledged him with a grunt, and Eric returned to the garage, quickly checking to make sure the bikes actually worked before giving them one last clean.


	16. Chapter 16 Upon the world

"Guys, I can't see a thing!" Yang moaned, a blindfold wrapped tightly around her head.

"That's what happens when you're blindfolded, dummy." Weiss smirked.

"Where are we going?" Yang asked, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.

"That's a very good point." She replied, allowing herself the moment to laugh at her other halfs caution. "Where are we going?" Slightly ahead of the two, Eric paced excitedly. Eventually,the three got to the garage, and Eric swung the doors open, holding them open for the girls.

"Oh wow." Wiess murmured, her eyes bulging slightly. "That's….that's looking really good."

"Yeah." Eric replied. "I knew she loved the damn thing more than she loves herself, so I have spent countless back breaking nights fixing it. I hope she enjoys it."

"What is it?" Yang asked, bouncing on the spot slightly. "Come on, show me!" Weiss grinned evilly, then left Yang where she was before laying across the bike.

"Is this sexy?" She asked, taking several different positions on the bike. Eric gave her a quick thumbs up before finally taking the blindfold off of Yang. Her eyes bugged out of her head, and she practically ran into the bike and tackled Weiss off of it.

"Thank you so much!" She shouted, covering Weiss's face with kisses.

"But I'm not even-" Eric cut her off quickly.

"Don't even try that Weiss. You're the one who fixed it, aren't you? You suffering from short term memory loss now?" Yang took no notice, and instead began looking over her bike, talking to herself. Eric walked away, giving Weiss a big grin and a thumbs up as he left. Turning a corner, he walked straight into what he could only identify as a green mess. Both members of the collision fell to the floor, Eric rubbing his nose while the other rubbed her head.

"Sorry!" She replied quickly, pulling herself off the floor. Eric looked up to see a dark skinned girl standing above him, trying to see if he was alright. "Are you okay?" She asked, holding out her hand.

"Emerald!" He thought viciously to himself. "I should just kill you now, save me doing it later." He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head and grabbed her hand, easily being pulled up by the strong girls firm grip. "I'm fine thanks." He patted himself down before looking at her properly. "Is that your actual hair colour?"

"Yep. It's really strange, isn't it?" Eric went to reply when he was cut off by a loud roaring from inside the garage, accompanied by Yang's merry shouts and Weiss's worried ones. "So, why are you here?" He thumbed at the roaring garage, then told her about the bike incident, and how he rebuilt it.

"Why are you here?" He asked, just waiting to leave, but not sound rude at the same time.

"I can't remember." She paused for a minute, tapping her chin. "Nope. No idea."

"I'll be right back." Eric remembered about the school dance and quickly rushed back into the garage. "Girls! I need to talk to you!" Reluctantly, Yang took the keys out of the bike and both girls walked towards him. "You two know about the school dance coming up, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?" Weiss asked, with Yang slowly creeping back to her bike, before Weiss grabbed the collar of her overcoat and pulling her back.

"Well, Team CFVY were meant to plan it, but unfortunately, they can't because they're on a mission."

"Okay...I don't know if I like where this is going."

"Well….basically, I may have convinced Ozpin to let you two organize it…."

"What?!" Weiss shouted, pointing towards her lover. "Me and her?!"

"Why us?" Yang asked calmly. "We are complete opposites."

"And look at you." He replied. "Here you both are, a brilliant couple who are going on strong. I believe that you two, with your different views on things, could make the single best dance this academy will ever have. Ever." Weiss blushed slightly, and Yang gave a giant ear-to-ear grin.

"I suppose so." Weiss replied, scratching the back of her head. noticing that the conversation was drawing to a close, Yang rushed back to her bike and started looking at the engine of it.

"Seeing as your bike is fixed, why don't we go into town?" Eric asked.

"We have lessons to attend to." Weiss reminded them.

"Eh screw em. We'll be fine."

"I'll be fine. You two won't. You don't do homework, you slack off, you don't pay attention. Hell you skip lessons as it is." She jabbed Eric in the rib.

"Ow, hey! Not nice!"

"Plus, you two have missed more lessons because you were both in hospital. And another thing! What makes you think she can ride again?! She could be traumatised for all you know!"

"But she isn't." He replied bluntly.

"How do you know that?!" Her question was answered by the revving engine behind her. Yang was sat on her bike, helmet in one hand, the other on her bike.

"Come on!" She shouted. "Let's go! I wanna ride!"

"Traumatised my ass." Eric remarked. "I'll go grab Blake, then we can go."

"Come on!" Yang shouted. "Come on come on comeon!"

"Stop being so impatient!" Weiss reprimanded her. Eric walked off from the arguing couple and back into the main building. As he got in, he started to think about what they might do when they got to town, and the consequences that them leaving during the day may bring. Simply shrugging them off, he made his way to the dorm, where he was sure to find his fellow faunus. He reached the corridor to see Jaune and Pyrrha arguing, before Pyrrha stormed off inside their dorm room, slamming it behind her.

"Jaune?" Eric quickly walked towards him, Jaune headbutting the wall. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea!" He shouted, turning towards Eric. "I was just talking to her about how I should talk to Weiss, and then she just stormed off!"

"Let me stop you right there. Have you seen the way Pyrrha looks at you?"

"What?"

"Pyrrha….She loves you man. She tries her absolute best to get you to notice her, but you are too blinded by someone who has no interest in you to see this wonderful woman right behind you!" The door slowly creaked open to reveal only a crimson ponytail flowing on the otherside. Taking no notice, they continued their conversation. "Time and time again, she tries to make you happy! Hell, she has bent over backwards for you so many times that she's probably unable to stand straight anymore. And I swear to god Jaune, if you carry on going after Weiss, god knows what'll happen between you two." Eric walked over to his door. "And just so you know, Weiss already has a partner, so you might as well stop there." He walked in, slamming the door behind him.

Jaune stood there for a few minutes, shocked at the fact that all his efforts to impress the ice queen had been for nothing. Slowly, he looked up to the doorway to see Pyrrha leaning on it, staring at her feet.

"Pyrrha I-" Jaune stuttered.

"Don't." She interrupted him. "Just-Just shh. All I want to ask is if you understand what he said."

"Of course I do!"

"And?"

"And what?" She replied with a sigh and shut the door on him, walked to her bed, fell into her pillow and cried herself to sleep.

Jaune stood there for a few minutes, angry at himself for not answering her properly, before punching the nearby wall and storming off, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Blake! You in here?" Eric shouted, closing the door behind him. "Hello?" He walked over to her bed and noticed a raised lump under her blanket. "Blake?" He smirked to himself, then jabbed the side of the lump. It twitched slightly, then returned to it's normal state. He poked it in the same place again, his smirk turning again. It twitched more violently, but then returned to it's original formation. He placed his hand at the top of the lump and started to scratch it lightly, causing a purring sound to emanate from under the blanket.

"Please stop." A voice wavered from under the blanket.

"Why? What you hiding?" Eric asked.

"Nothing!" She quickly shot back.

"That was quick." He increased the intensity of the scratching, the purring becoming louder.

"Stop it!" The lump squeaked.

"Show me what you're hiding kitty." Slowly, the corner of a book poked out of the blanket.

"A book? Is that what I think it is?" He went to grab it, before it shot back under the blanket. "What's it called?" He asked.

"Dunno."

"What do you mean you don't know? What's it called? Come on, tell me!"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"You'll laugh at me."

"No I won't."

"That's what everyone says."

"I promise."

"They say that as well."

"Come on! Weiss and Yang are waiting for us!" She put her book down and pulled the blanket off her.

"Why?"

"We're going to town. Your coming. so let's go!"

"We have lessons to get to."

"Says the one skipping lessons to read."

"Shh."

"Come on!" He pulled her off the bed and onto the floor. "Get your shoes on and let's go already." She slowly got up and walked towards her shoes when he spotted the book poking out of the blanket. Slowly, he crept towards the bed and reached for the book, slowly lifting it from under the blanket. "Ninja love men?" He announced. Blake turned a shade of red as she froze on the spot, midway through putting on a shoe. "Did you know that there's a new one out? I can get you a copy if you want."

"How?" She asked skeptically, doing up the laces on her boots.

"I have my ways. So, you want me to get you one or not?"

"They haven't even gone into print yet."

"Oh." Eric's eyes lit up. "I bet I could get you either the first print, the original copy, or even the manuscript!"

"Impossible!" Her eyes widened as she walked to the door. "Even if they do sell the manuscript or the original, it would be ridiculously expensive! Where would you get the money for it?!"

"Some people owe me some favours." Eric followed her and they both made their way back to the garage, both slack jawed at what they saw. On top of one of the cars there, Yang and Weiss were playing tongue wars. Getting their attention by sharply clearing his throat, Weiss jumped off her lover, face flushed, straightening her dress. Yang sat up on the car with a smirk on her face, slightly patting down her hair.

"Shall we go?" Eric asked sheepishly, staring away from the two. A loud "Woo!" from Yang confirmed everyone's slight excitement towards the trip, and they all got on a bike, Weiss behind Yang and Blake behind Eric. "I know you're thinking about her." He mumbled to the faunus behind him. "Don't worry. If no one finds her then she'll just stumble back in like nothing happened. She strange like that, remember?" She nodded into his back. "Excellent."

Eric's own thoughts were clouded as well, because no matter how he tried to dismiss it, he knew that today would be the day when he got to see the love of his life again.

Today was the day his whole world would start falling apart around him.


	17. Chapter 17 Take back what you stole

The bike ride was nice enough. Because everyone had already gotten to work or back home, the roads were pretty clear, only the odd couple of cars dotting the streets. The rising sun reflected its light off the windows of the towers dominating the skyline, while all the smaller buildings buzzed with business flowing in and out.

"Don't we have to go this way?" Weiss asked into the headset in her helmet.

"I'd rather we went a different way." Eric replied, driving past the long, narrow street.

"Why?"

"That's where we crashed." Yang grimaced, not even looking towards the street. The rest of the drive was in silence, everyone remembering when the two crashed and the painful times afterwards. Eventually, they found the car park, and after they left their bikes, they headed into the main part of town, inaccessible to vehicles due to the lack of roads.

"Alright, where should we go first?" Yang asked.

"I don't know about you guys." Eric announced. "But I need to find a blacksmith, or whatever."

"Down there." Blake pointed towards a small building on a corner of the square.

"Neat. Is there a book store around here? I think it's called Tuskoons?"

"Tukson's?" Blake corrected him.

"That's the one."

"Over there as well." She pointed next to the blacksmith.

"Awesome. I'll see you guys in a bit. Call me if you need me!" Eric jogged towards the blacksmith and pushed the door open. "Hello?" He called.

"One second!" A small voice called from behind a door. As the door swung open, the first thing that caught his eye was the dark blue hair flowing behind the bearer of the small voice. She had pink eyes and a soft complexion, the bangs of her hair framing her face perfectly. Freckles lightly dotted her face, just barely noticeable over her tanned skin. She was dressed in a vest and a apron, the apron only covering her lower half.

"Welcome to Kováři's smithing. How can I help you?" Her voice was gentle and kind, inviting him in while also giving the room a completely different atmosphere. Eric was too captivated by her face to notice her question.

"Sir?" She asked, blushing deeply, her gazing dropping to the floor. Realizing how uncomfortable he made her, he snapped out of his trance.

"Sorry! Sorry." He mumbled, awkwardly rubbing his arm.

"It's fine. How may I help you?" She assured him.

"Ah, yeah. I need armour. Armour and weapons."

"Okay. How much armour are you talking about?"

"A whole suit of it."

"Okay." She looked at him skeptically. "And what about your weapon?"

"Can you make transforming weapons?"

"Of course!" She proudly stated, taking a dramatic pose.

"Even better. I need a longsword and a shield. Have the sword double as some sort of assault rifle."

"Sir, if you don't mind me saying, this'll all be very expensive. Are you sure about this?"

"Yep. As long as you make me some good quality equipment, I'll pay whatever I need to. When can you have it done by?"

"If I don't get any more orders, tomorrow evening I think." She tapped her chin with her index finger.

"Cool. DO that, but don't slave yourself over that fire."

"But that's what blacksmiths do." She sheepishly mumbled.

"Yeah, but generally, blacksmiths don't have pretty looks to ruin." He walked back towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye." He left the blushing blacksmith as he went next door to the bookshop.

"Welcome to Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun. How may I help you?" The burly faunus leaned on his counter.

"Are you Tukson?" Eric asked, picking up a book.

"Yes sir." He replied calmly.

"Do you mind if I ask you a sort of personal question?"

"Go for it."

"Are you a faunus?"

"Yes sir." Eric placed the book back where he found it and walked towards the counter.

"You need to get out of here. Now." Eric whispered.

"Why?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Because someone is coming for you." As if it was planned, two people walked through the door, noticeable by the bell ringing.

"Welcome to Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun. How may I help you?" He spoke over Eric's shoulder.

"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of "The Thief and The Butcher"?" The girl asked.

"Yes we do." Tukson replied.

"That's great." She said excitedly.

"Would you... like a copy?" Tukson asked hesitantly, only just realizing who they are.

" No, just wondering. Oh, oh! What about "Violet's Garden"? In paperback?"

"He's got it. Hardback too." The boy speculated.

"Ooh, options are nice."

"Eh, no pictures. Hey! Do you have any comics?" The boy shouted to the back of the store, slamming a book shut.

"Near the front." Tukson pointed towards the windows of the shop.

"Oh, no, wait! What... about... "Third Crusade"?" The girl asked, looking around the shop.

"Um... I... ...don't believe we carry that one." He hesitantly murmured.

"Oh." The boy slammed another book shut.

"What was this place called again?" The girl asked.

"Tukson's Book Trade." Tukson replied.

"And you're Tukson?" She asked again.

"That's right." He replied, becoming visibly annoyed.

"So then I take it that you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?" Her voice became more

menacing.

"Yes."

"Keep talking, but listen to me." Eric whispered. "Do you have a back door here?"

"I have the good entrance." Tukson replied.

"Is it open?"

"Yes."

"Hey, you with the blue hair!" The boy shouted. "You look familiar." Ignoring him, Eric carried on talking.

"Ok. If you hear the term Olly Olly Oxen Free, it's someone who will help you. I'm going to make a lot of noise, and you're going to get the hell out of here."

"We are trying to hold a conversation here. Don't be rude." A hand fell to his shoulder, and knocking it off, Eric spun round and landed a punch into the boys gut.

"Go!" Eric shouted. Tukson sprinted out the back door, and as the green haired girl ran after him, Eric kicked a nearby table at her, stopping her in her tracks. Turning towards him, she brandished her weapons and the boy recovered from the blow to his gut.

"That wasn't nice." He dusted himself off before assuming a battle position. "I reckon we should teach him a thing or two, don't you agree Emerald?"

"Yes Mercury." She replied. "I was almost crushed by a table. Let's teach him some manners."

Moments later, Eric shot out of the window and into the fountain in the middle of the square. Emerald and Mercury slowly walked out of the broken window, glass crunching beneath their feet. Some people looked at the duo in horror, some ran away, and a few ran towards Eric, before he told them to stay where they are. He picked himself up, brushing himself down while pulling small bits of glass of various areas of his body. He kicked a few bits of rubble away from him before a familiar voice shouted "Take this!" He looked over to the blacksmith just in time to see a sword flying towards him. He jumped up slightly, grabbing the sword by the handle and using the momentum to bring himself into a battle stance. The duo continued their slow advance, Emerald readying her weapons. Before he could prepare himself, something flew out of the corner of his vision, hitting Mercury square in the side of his face, leaving a red mark.

"Who was that?!" He shouted, visibly angered.

"Screw you!" Someone shouted, a few tomatoes flying towards the duo. One hit Emerald, giving her clothes a new red colour.

"Show yourself." Eric looked around to see multiple people stand up, peering over balconies with angry looks on their face. "What the hell are you doing?!" He shouted at them. A coffee cup flew towards him, splattering at his feet. Eric's view was partially blocked as two burly men stood between him and the duo, raising their fits to them.

"What are you doing?" Eric shouted over the commotion as more everyday objects flew towards Mercury and Emerald.

"We can't stay here Mercury." Emerald mentioned.

"Why not?!" He protested. "We can take them."

"Maybe, but it's not worth the attention." Slowly, they both backed away before sprinting off into a alley. Slowly, the commotion died down as Weiss, Blake, Yang and Ruby ran towards them.

"Hey! Get off of me!" Yang shouted, one of the bigger faunus trying to hold her back.

"It's fine!" Eric yelled, holding out a hand to them. "They're friends." Eric stabbed his sword into the floor as he surveyed all the people around him. He noticed that despite all their differences, they all had something in common.

They were all faunus.


	18. Chapter 18 I burn

"Are you alright?" Someone asked. He replied with a quick nod, noticing the blue hair of the blacksmith quickly making it's way towards him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking him over for any wounds.

"I'm fine." He replied, pulling some more glass out of his arm.

"What was that about?" Ruby yelled, hugging him tightly around his waist.

"Yeah!" Yang shouted, backing up her siblings question. "What the hell was that?"

"Just a small fight with some guys harassing someone.

"Thanks for that." He looked behind him to see Tukson standing there, rubbing his arm. "You really didn't have to."

"Yes I did." He stated, rubbing Ruby's head as she clutched him harder. "I couldn't just let them kill you, especially seeing as I was next door." He turned to the small blacksmith, hefting the sword onto his shoulder. "Thanks for this. Is this one you had ready made?"

"Nope." She held out her hand. "I'm Kováři. I started on it as soon as you left. I always have some metal melted and ready to go." He held the sword in the air for a few minutes before giving it to her.

"Thanks again." He repeated, shaking her hand.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"Because I want you to engrave Rytíř on the sword, and Strážce on the shield." He pulled out some paper and wrote down the words for her. Walking off, she took the paper and the sword, barely able to hold it upright due to how small she was. He turned to Tukson. "You need to use that ticket you have and go to Vacuo, and never come back, do you understand?" He nodded curtly in response before walking away. Eric quickly grabbed him by the arm and whispered to him "But if you do come back, remember: Olly Olly Oxen Free." With that, he let him go and Tukson walked off, hefting a small duffle bag over his shoulder.

"So you gonna actually tell us what that was about?" Weiss demanded more than asked.

"After I ordered some stuff from the blacksmith, I popped over to the bookstore and started chatting to the owner there. One thing led to another, I helped him escape, and ta da. Here I am. So!" He shouted, clapping his hands loudly. "What now?!"

"We need to go this way." Weiss pointed, running down one of the many streets.

"Why?" Eric asked, following suite.

"Because there was some little rapscallion that we need to fi-" She was cut off she fell to the floor with a loud thud and a groan. "God dammit!" She shouted loud enough for the whole street to hear. "Now we'll never find him!"

"Um, Weiss?" Ruby pointed to the girl underneath her. With a small yelp, Weiss rushed off the floor and practically jumped into her girlfriend's arms.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!" The girl shouted merrily, dragging out each syllable in the one word.

"Hi." Ruby waved slightly, before letting her hand drop to her side.

"Are you...okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm _wonderful_! Thank you for asking!" The girl replied.

"Do you...wanna get up?" Eric asked, holding out a hand. She laid there on the floor for a minute, and the team looked quizzically at each other, before looking at Eric, who had a massive grin plastered on his face. Ruby turned to Blake and asked:

"Do you thinks thats..?"

"I believe it is." She replied.

"That's her?" Yang butted in. The girl took the hand outstretched to her before beaming at the team.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you." The team looks in bewilderment before Ruby speaks first.

"Hello Penny. My name's Ruby."

"Weiss Schnee; Heiress to the Schnee Dust Corp-"

"Blake." Blake chimed in, cutting Weiss of mid speech.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, receiving an elbow to the side from Blake. "Ow! Name's Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny exclaimed merrily.

"You already said that." Weiss pointed out. Penny raised a finger to her chin, deep in thought.

"So I did." She replied.

"Well...Sorry for running into you, I suppose." Weiss waved, starting to walk away from Penny.

"Take care friend!" Ruby called, joining Weiss.

"That was weird." Yang whispered when she was sure she was out of earshot.

"Now then. Where did that faunus go to..?" Weiss asked herself, wondering where to go next.

"What did you call me?!" Penny exclaimed, appearing as if from thin air.

"I'm sorry!" Yang shouted, an apologetic look on her face. "I didn't think you'd hear me!"

"Not you." Penny gently pushed past everyone until she got to Ruby. "Did you call me _friend?!_ Am I really your friend?!"

"Erm…" Ruby looked past the strange girl and looked at her team to see they were all disagreeing in one way or another, except for Eric, who still had the grin on his face, giving her the thumbs up. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" Everyone comically fainted, hitting the ground with a resounding thud.

"Sen-sational!" Penny shouted, jumping with glee on the spot. "We could paint our nails, and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"

"Like Eric, huh? Haha...Ha…" Ruby's laugh faded as she pointed towards the boy, looking at a small block he had in his hand.

"What's that?" Yang asked, popping her head over Eric's shoulder.

"It's a weapon." He replied.

"Really? That little block? What's it turn into?"

"A sword." With a flick of his wrist, another curved chunk flew out the top, ending in a flat top. He flicked the hilt around his wrist and a curved blade flew out the top, sliding into place so that the top blade lined up with the second chunk of curved blade. Holding the hilt, he pressed a button above his hand and a bronze circular hand guard flew out, a dull green power symbol on it. After a few minutes, the power button started to glow a bright green, the edge of the blade following suite.

"Whoa. That's pretty cool." Yang remarked, the glow of the sword reflecting off her eyes. "But to be honest, I didn't think you use something like this, especially seeing as we saw you with that big 'ol sword not to long ago."

"It's not mine. It's hers." He thumbed towards the ginger-haired girl bouncing around the scythe wielder.

"Wow. Does she know you have it?"

"I doubt it. I don't even think she knows who I am."

"Hey Penny!" Yang called, catching the red-heads attention. "Do you recognise him?" She pointed towards Eric.

"Hmmm…" Penny tapped her chin a few times before her eyes widened. "He does look familiar! Oh my god!" SHe shouted, running towards Yang and pulling her away from him. "Wasn't he that killer who appeared at Beacon?! That is him, but he had a trench coat and everything!" Everyone looked questionably between Penny and Eric.

"Eric." Yang slowly walked between him and Ruby, her fists clenched. "What's she on about?" With a sigh, Eric allowed his shoulders to slump.

"When I came back from whichever timeline I was in, I was covered in a lot of…" He looked towards Ruby's innocent face. "I looked less than desirable, considering I turned up at a school full of kids. But I can promise you that I'm not a killer."

"Makes sense." Blake pointed out. "I mean, given that we believe in his back story, that isn't exactly far-fetched. No one really saw him apart from security, so we can't say that he didn't look like that or anything." Slowly, Yang relaxed, allowing her shoulders to fall to her side. Penny, however, stayed tensed, her gears and servos barely audible, even to his sensitive ears.

"Please be careful." Penny pleaded, looking Ruby in the eyes, holding her shoulders. "I still don't trust him!" Ruby nodded to her, and Penny visibly calmed. "So!" She said merrily, as though their previous conversation never happened. "What now?"

 **Now, it may seem that Ruby has just re-appeared out of no where and no one reacted to it, but I'll clean that up in the next chapter, or maybe the one after that if not that one. Sorry if it causes confusion amongst you all, but I'll sort it out at some point, trust me.**

 **Please review n all that jazz. Thanks**


	19. Chapter 19 Brighter than the sun

**I noticed that there was a couple of problems with some previous chapters, as they printed the HTML as well, but they should be fixed now, so go back and read them!**

The team made their way around town, Weiss and Yang talking about plans for the school dance, Blake, Ruby and Penny chatting about something that he couldn't quite make out, and Eric trawling behind, flicking the sword open and close in his hand. He flicked it open and held it in front of him, staring at the flickering light of the power sign in the hand guard.

"Yo, can anyone else hear that?" Yang shouted to the back of the group.

"Hear what?" Blake asked, her bow twitching.

"That!" Yang repeated, pointing at a wall. Everyone slowly stepped closer to the wall, curious as to what she was on about. Eric stuck the side of his head to the wall, and noticed it was making a faint, but slow ticking noise. Slowly but surely, the ticking grew faster, but before he could tell everyone about it, a different, much louder noise caught everyone's attention. The sounds of treads echoed from down the street and as everyone turned to acknowledge it, they were all met with the sight of a barrel bearing down on them.

"Duck!" The shell barely missed the group as it whipped past their heads, missing them all by a hairs length and destroying a building just behind them. Everyone looked towards the building in shock as it crumbled, crushing some of the shoppers and the owner inside. The sound of treads appeared again as the tank turned and started plummeting down the street, not slowing down for the children.

"Shit! Move!" Yang shouted, pulling Ruby and Weiss. They got to the junction at the end of the street to find two more tanks coming down either way, boxing the group in. The rest of the group joined them, a look of defeat plastered on their face. Everyones attention was drawn away from their impending doom as their lives flashed before their eyes.

Ruby remembered the first time she had completely assembled Crescent Rose, the look of happiness Yang had given, and the proudness obviously plastered across her uncle's face, the warmth those looks had given her,

She remembered how she'd never feel them again.

Weiss remembered the first time she aced her combat training. Her father stood in front of her, ruffling her hair, while her personal servant was holding a pillow in his hands. On that pillow was a completely new, polished Myrtenaster. She remembered holding it in her hand, the grip easily adjusting to the curves in her hand, the clicks of the cylinder changing, and the look of proudness on her father's face. She remembered how she'd never feel them again.

Blake remembered the time when she and the other abused women finally revolted against her father and her ex-mentor. She stood victorious, a flag with a simple pair of cat's ears impaling her fathers chest, sticking him to the floor. She remembered the look of fear on Adam's face as he ran away from the community. She remembered the feelings of awe everyone gave her as they stared at the shining beacon that she was.

She remembered how she'd never feel them again.

Yang remembered the first time she'd bested her sparring partner in a match, and how everyone congratulated her for it. She remembered getting the first version of Ember Celica as a present for beating him. She remembered how, even though they weren't actually family, Summer treated her just like they were, and she remembered when Summer baked them her special cookies.

She remembered how she'd never feel them again.

A loud roar of pain echoed down the streets as the girls were snapped from their day dreams. The looked around to see that they were all slumped against something, or someone. Weiss looked up to see Penny stood in front of her, her gears and servos crunching and grinding as she tried hard to stop the vehicle from flattening her. Her legs crunched and moaned as the force of the tank slowly pushed her through the floor.

Ruby looked up to see Eric stood there, arms outstretched and blood covering him as bones broke and shattered, half his forearm shot through his elbow. His legs snapped under the weight of the heavy vehicle, the bones crunching and shredding the skin of his legs as they shot out and glowed purple.

Blake looked up to see Yang stood in front of her, her arms buckling slightly as the tank carried on it's charge. Her bones shattered as her forearms caved in, sending bone through her upper arm, tearing at the muscle residing there.

Eventually, the tanks stopped their advance, and their engines came to a halt as the hatches on the top opened and people poured out of them. The clicks of safety's sounded as hundreds of guns pointed towards the group. Lasers danced across their bodies as Eric, Penny and Yang slumped to the floor, their bodies too battered to do anything. Everyone thought for sure that they would fall here.

One rebel fell.

A second quickly followed, soon tailed by a third, then a fourth, and quickly, the group were cut down, a few members managing to find cover behind the tanks and return fire from whatever shot them. Making use of the distraction, Eric sprinted towards a member, slamming shards of bone into his head, quickly tearing it apart. His heavy aura quickly started healing his legs, the bone already knitting itself back together. He slaughtered the one next to him, and soon, everyone was back on their feet, savagely tearing apart their attackers. They sat back down, taking a breath for a minute to look at everyone's wounds.

"Penny, I didn't know you could fight!" Ruby remarked, punching the synthetics shoulder.

"Of course I can fight!" Penny laughed, seemingly oblivious to the situation she was in. "I'm combat ready!" A man clad in military armour jogged round the corner, sporting a standard assault rifle.

"Everyone ok-" He cut himself off as he saw the extent of Eric and Yang's injuries. "Hey, we need a medic over here! STAT!" He kneeled down next to Eric and pulled something out of his pocket. Noticing the medical sign, he waved it away and pointed towards Yang.

"Go give it to her." The soldier looked towards Yang, who had gone pale due to blood lose. He nodded at Eric, then quickly rushed to Yang's side and jabbed the needle into her arm. slowly, the color returned to her face as the wounds scabbed over.

"Where's that damn medic?!" He shouted again. After a few minutes of no reply, he started cursing as he walked to the edge of one of the tanks and peered down the street he'd come up. His face flushed with shock as he took a couple steps back before recomposing himself.

"We need to leave. Now." He held a hand out to Yang and proceeded to sling her over his shoulder and brandish his sidearm in his other hand. Blake helped Ruby and Weiss up before hefting Eric onto his feet, still sore from being broken. Slowly, they began to walk down the opposite street the soldier had come up and Eric turned his head behind him, getting only a quick glance at the mangled corpses of what he could only assume to be the soldiers team.

"So, er, Mr Army man. What's your name?" Ruby asked, hefting herself under her sisters over shoulder.

"Andy Roussel." He replied sternly, shifting Yang's weight as best he could without hurting her.

"What did you inject my sister with?"

"How old are you, Miss?"

"15. Why?"

"They're healing meds."

"What do they do?"

"They temporarily seal wounds so that they can be attended to."

"How does that wo-"

"Hello." Weiss butted in, cutting Ruby off. "Name's Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee dust-"

"I know who you are, I've been part of your security detail before." Weiss gave him a sour look before backing down and returning to her silence.


	20. Chapter 20 In the middle of July

Eric slowly limped behind the rest of the group, his legs still pulling the last bits together and his arms only just starting to fall back into place. He watched as Yang slowly returned to the world of the living, mumbling about protecting everyone, and how Weiss silently watched over her lover. He noticed that, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't seem to find Blake, especially in his physically impaired state. As the group made their way through the back alleys of the town, they could truly see what had happened; buildings lied in ruins, families mourned, children wandered aimlessly, and people died. Multiple times Ruby went to help someone who'd been crushed, only for Weiss to pull her away and remind her of their own problems.

"Where are we going?" Yang weakly asked, still being dragged along by her sister and the soldier while looking around, wincing in pain as feeling returned to her arms and legs. "Who are you?" She asked Andy, before immediately turning to Weiss. "Who is he?"

"That's Andy." The heiress grumbled, crossing her arms. "The guy that saved our lives."

"Where's Eric? And Blake?!" Yang started to panic, fidgeting in the grip of her helpers. "Weiss! Where are they?!"

"Eric's just behind you!" She reassured the blonde, pointing behind her. Eric smiled back, still limping and clutching one arm in a hand. "As for Blake, well…..I have no idea. She was with us when Andy came along, but she's just….disappeared."

"Andy." Eric called, slightly speeding up his limping to catch up with him. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet." He replied, pulling his helmet off and wiping his brow before replacing it. "I've just been making sure that no one got hurt even more." He pulled a little radio out of his pocket and started talking into it.

"This is November-Mike 11, Sunrise-Minor on call, over." A few seconds of silence passed as everyone sat down, save Andy. "Repeat, this is November-Mike 11, Sunrise Minor. Command, how copy?"

"We hear you Sunrise. What's the situation?"

"I don't know command, I was hoping you could tell me."

"The entire city is under attack by an unknown force. What is your current situation Sunrise?"

"I'm currently sat in a back alley not far from the center. I'm transporting…." He stopped and peered at the children, taking a head count. "..four children, two of which have been badly wounded. I've administered one with a standard med-pack, but the other has gone without treatment. What's our orders?"

"You need to make your way to the outskirts of the city, on the way to Beacon academy. Hotel Bravo and Hotel Charlie have set up a forwards base there. Do not, I repeat, do not go through the city center or the surrounding area. The enemy are heavily armed and are concentrating their forces there. Command out."

"Roger. Sunrise-Minor out." He turned towards the group of children and clapped to get their attention. "Right then. I have orders to get you guys out of the city and to a camp set up not far from here."

"Are we going through the town center?" Eric asked, grunting as he stood and dusted himself down. He looked at his arms and noticed how there was scars from where bone had been pushed out of them.

"No. We need to head that way." He pointed west towards the academy. "I've been told that-"

"I'll catch up with you." Eric cut him off, turning in the general direction of the city centre.

"Where are you going?!" Andy asked, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.

"I have stuff to do!" Eric wrenched his wrist from the soldier's grip.

"The center is fucking crawling with the enemy!"

"I don't give a shit!" Eric shouted back, walking towards the wall of a nearby building and knocking on it a few times.

"Now is not the time for fucking heroics! They'll kill you!"

"Look soldier boy! Your job is to make sure that they get to safety! Your command didn't say jackshit about making sure we didn't wander off! So you be a good little man, and make sure they get to the camp, or so help me god I'll rip your -"

"What's the plan?" A voice sounded from beside them. Both men stopped their argument and looked at the bearer of the voice.

"Blake!" Ruby shouted, sprinting towards her lover. "Where did you go?"

"I….I had something personal I needed to get." She looked towards both men before quickly returning to Ruby. "Hey, I'll chat to you soon, but I need to talk to them first, okay?" Ruby nodded, a tear creeping it's way down her cheek. "It'll be fine, I promise." Blake gently rubbed the tear away, replacing it with a line of soot. "Ah shoot." The faunus murmured, smudging the line as she tried to remove it. Smiling, she kissed her forehead and left her, walking over to the arguing pair.

"Hey hey hey!" She shouted, separating the angry duo. "What's the plan?"

"I've been ordered to get everyone to a secure location on the outskirts of the city. That includes this asshole!" Andy shouted, pointing towards Eric.

"I have private shit I need to attend to!" Eric shouted back.

"What private stuff?" Blake asked before Andy could shout back.

"Stuff in the town center."

"That place is crawling with military. Are you sure you really want to got there?" Already, Eric had started to dig his fingers into the wall of the building and began climbing. "I guess that's a 'yes'. If it's any consolation, I'll go with him."

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Andy shouted at her. "What makes you so special?!"

"I have training." Her eyes narrowed to slits before she called up to Eric and asked him to wait. She made her way to Ruby and cupped her cheeks in her hands. "Ruby. I need you to go with Andy, okay? I'm going to go make sure that Eric doesn't get himself killed, but I can't have you tagging along as well, okay?"

"Why?" Ruby asked, tears forming in the corners of her eye's. Wiping them away, Blake placed a kiss on the girls forehead.

"Because someone has to make sure that he doesn't get himself killed. You know how he is. I mean, we could've sent Yang in my place, but just look at her." Ruby's eyes followed her lover's gaze and rested upon her sister.

The normally cheerful brute looked sad, crestfallen even. She propped herself in between Weiss and a wall, shaking in pain as the consequences of recent events caught up with her. Her hair was covered in dust and debris, turning the bright blonde to a dull yellow, and her face was a contorted mix of pain and sorrow, the look in her eyes that of sorrow, glimpses of horrific events flitting across her eyes.

"You understand why we can't send her, don't you?" Blake whispered into Ruby's ear. She nodded slightly in response, then looked back towards Blake and nodded again before planting a kiss on the kittens mouth, to which Blake returned quickly with passion. Unwillingly, Blake broke the kiss and slowly pushed Ruby off her, standing up to join Eric on top of the building. Without saying a word, Blake threw part of Gambol shroud up to Eric, and once he took hold of it, pulled herself up the building, leaving the rest of the group behind.

Eric dug his heels into the raised corners of the buildings roof and wrapped the cord of Gambol Shroud around his hand, the tug of the chord signifying that Blake was making her way up the building. The first thing that caught his eye was the pure black set of ears peeking over the top of the buildings edge, quickly followed by the raven-colored hair, and eventually, Blake's pale hands and face. With a grunt, she pulled herself up and took the end of Gambol Shroud from Eric, put it back together and sheathed the blade. With a quick nod, Eric made his way to the center, hopping across building tops with Blake quickly following behind him.


	21. Chapter 21 Please read

**As some of you may have noticed, I've taken a bit of a break with this story. I'm still on that break, but mainly because I'm gonna start a new story. I think. I want to start writing a new story. I've also been vectoring pictures. Bleh. I'll find something to do, just not writing this story. I might carry on writing it at some point, just not now. I've lost interest in this story to be frank.**


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